It was a night Audrey Soape would never forget.
The sudden loss of her father and grandfather within a few months made Audrey finding a date to her local church's daddy-daughter dance difficult. Audrey, 11, even asked her mother, Holly Soape, to accompany her. But Holly had another idea up her sleeve.
Enter Philadelphia Eagles safety Anthony Harris.
Holly, who is from Minnesota, has been a huge fan of Harris' since his days on the Vikings, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. She has reached out several times on social media. Audrey eventually took to Harris' liking, too. As the night of the daddy-daughter dance loomed, Holly decided to reach out to Harris on social media one more time.
Harris made the trip to a suburb outside of Austin, Texas, for Audrey's dance over the weekend.
"Just trying to be a human. Tryna take off the helmet, tryna take off the cape of what I do professionally and just show some sympathy for that family and try to show some support there," Harris told NBC10 Philadelphia.
Because the Eagles' season had ended to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 16, Harris was able to find the time to escort Audrey to the dance Friday (January 28). He even foot the bill for the sixth-grader's dress, shoes and makeup.
"A normal player would probably be like, 'I really don't have time for this. I have to be focused for either next season or the playoffs,' but he took time off the schedule to take me, so that was really special," Audrey said.
Holly shared photos of Audrey and Harris on Instagram and said, "The smile never left her face as she felt like a princess being twirled around the dance floor by her favorite person. The kindness and generosity shown by Anthony was remarkable and I know she'll never forget this night. Thank you for helping turn this heartbreak into magic and gifting us the blessing of a lifetime."
Not only was it a big night for Audrey, but Harris as well.
"You gotta cherish these moments. you never know how long we have here on this earth. So you really gotta just — the people that you care about, the people that you love, show support for them," he said.