OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Like so many others during the coronavirus pandemic, Alyssa Hudler felt like her life was on pause.
She felt compelled to do something memorable, something epic. So the 26-year-old daughter of Royals announcer Rex Hudler decided to drive nearly 1,500 miles from California, on the sly, to surprise her brother for his 19th birthday.
“I really like putting on special events, making people feel special,” Hudler told FOX4. “So doing big things for my brothers and my family members is really important to me.”
Alyssa Hudler set up the ruse by telling her brother Will that she couldn’t make it home from California for his birthday. She explained she would send over a singing birthday telegram instead.
“He got snubbed from his graduation, coronavirus kind a messed things up for him this year,” Hudler said. “So I wanted to make sure that he felt really special and appreciated.”
So when a person in a Minion costume showed up at the Hudler family home in Overland Park, everyone was amused.
Then, the real surprise came.
Alyssa Hudler unzipped the costume to reveal she had secretly traveled all those miles to surprise her brother, Will, and the rest of the family.
“Complete shock, I had no idea what to do with myself,” Will Hudler said. “I honestly just went down on my knees, had my hands on my face and I just started crying.”
Their parents were equally stunned.
“It was a total shock to for all of us,” said Jennifer Hudler, Alyssa’s mother.
“Wow! No one expected that,” Rex Hudler said. “Just so fun and so great to see her. We hadn’t seen her in a while. We just lost it.”
And it’s fair to say Will Hudler will never forget his 19th birthday.
“This was definitely the best graduation and birthday gift I could ever ask for,” Will Hudler said. “I don’t know how anything else could’ve topped it.”
