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Teen recreates her mom's very special graduation photo

"Yeah that's right, we made it TOGETHER."

Samantha Scelzo

on June 5, 2017

Madeleine Tarin honored her parents in the cutest way by recreating a photo close to her family's heart.

Tarin's parents got together during her mom's freshman year of high school and gave birth to her at age 16. Tarin was by her parents' side as her mom graduated from high school in 2000, and can be seen proudly celebrating her mom's accomplishment while sitting on her dad's shoulders in a family photo. The image, she said, represents who she is.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"I've always had this photo framed in my room and I believe this photo was unique to me and represented who I am," Tarin said. "I also found it pretty cool that I was at my mom's graduation with her."

So, 17 years later at her own graduation from Chino Hills High School, Madeleine had the idea to recreate the photo in honor of her parents' hard work, and the result is pretty adorable.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"I've always wanted to recreate this photo. Recreating it, I thought, would show my parents that all their hard work paid off," Tarin explained. "I'm sure it hasn't been easy for them, but we made [it] and I'm going to continue to work hard for them in college."

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Tarin, who is attending Rider University in New Jersey in the fall to play Division 1 soccer, will be studying health sciences in hopes of becoming an occupational therapist.

It sounds like her family was equally as pumped to recreate the nostalgic photo. "My family was excited about it, especially my dad. He was laughing [because] I had to get on his shoulders. They were really supportive of it because they knew how much it meant to me," she said.

Turin first posted the photo on Twitter, and people collectively congratulated her, cried, and commented on how her parents have seemed to age in reverse.

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"People have overwhelming liked and retweeted my post," she said. "It seems to have inspired and touched a lot of people, which has been extremely flattering to my family and I! I never wanted their situation to define who I was, but it certainly has characterized a lot of decisions I've made in life."

Congrats, mom, dad, and Madeleine!

Topics Family & Parenting

Samantha Scelzo

Samantha was a Watercooler Web Culture & Lifestyle intern at Mashable. Follow her on Twitter @samiscelz.