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Despite COVID-19 and families having to stay isolated, one local 13-year-old girl still got to celebrate her birthday.

On Wednesday, family, friends and teammates of Gardner Newman Middle School student Hudson Wood surprised her for her special day by driving by the Wood home with signs, horns and cheers.

“We wanted to do something for her birthday,” said Hudson’s mom Britt Wood. “We did it this because of the quarantine. We wanted to still do something special.”

Britt said she texted a group of Hudson’s friends and teammates from her travel ball team, Troup Thunder, and they planned the rest.

“We have our family, and we are so blessed,” Britt said. “This is what matters—friends and family showing support. This was a complete surprise for her.”

Hudson said she had no idea the drive-by birthday parade was going to happen.

“I was so excited to see everyone,” Hudson said. “At first, it was really disappointing not to be able to have a birthday party, but then this happened.”

Hudson’s friends wrote happy birthday on their cars, held up signs and a few even threw birthday presents out the window.

“This was a really special day for her,” said Hudson’s father, Barron.

Her parents also surprised her with an extra-large sign in their front yard wishing her a happy birthday.

“This made my birthday very special and very memorable,” Hudson said. “I haven’t seen all my friends in like over a month.”

After the parade of cars passed by, a few of Hudson’s friends came back around to take a few photos with Hudson with more than six feet of space between them all.

“The whole social distancing hasn’t been that hard, but I really miss seeing all my friends,” Hudson said. “This was really awesome though.”