The perfect welcome home after school for 12-year-old Emily Rawlins is knowing she will find her father there. Taken for granted by many children, she's still getting used to it.
Until last year, dad Matt served in the Royal Navy, away from the family home in Plympton, Devon, for up to nine months at a time.
Britain's Got Talent viewers saw Emily perform with 47 other children aged six to 18 as part of The Voices of Armed Forces Children Choir. Tonight they are back for the second live semi-final.
At their audition, they melted hearts with their song Welcome Home, written by Emily and fellow choir member Lewis Elliott, 12.
The song was inspired by the lives of thousands of children whose parents are part of the armed forces who are away from their families, often risking their lives.
Emily says: "We always had pictures of Dad at home, and we talked about him a lot, but I did feel very sad. That is why I wanted to sing a song about how happy I would be when Dad came home.
"My other choir friends have parents who still have to go away from home. It makes me appreciate my mum and dad even more. It makes me glad Dad doesn’t go away any more.
"It's hard for my choir mates but it’s good we have each other. It feels like a second family.
"We can talk to each other about things that only we can understand. It's really nice that we have gone through the same experiences. That is what our song is about."
Remembering the first moment he heard the song, her dad, Chief Petty Officer Matthew Rawlins, says: "We heard the song as it was coming together but hearing the final version made us teary-eyed.
"The song articulates how all loved ones feel being away from family members and knowing we can be placed in frightening situations, and it is upsetting.
"During my service, I received indirect fire while on operations and tended to patients with significant trauma injuries.
"Now Emily is a bit older, she can understand the importance of the work the armed forces do, but there is no doubt it feels like a terrible sacrifice to be away from the people you love most in the world."
The lyrics of Welcome Home struck a chord worldwide, gaining more than a million YouTube views for the BGT performance.
Matt, 45, says: "It has touched a nerve with the armed forces community worldwide. American colleagues got in touch to say
how incredible they thought the performance was in summing up the experience of families separated from each other."
Emily and her co-writer Lewis met while they performing in their local military kids' choir in Plymouth before joining The Voices of Armed Forces Children Choir last year and writing the song for National Armed Forces Day. The title Welcome Home was the first thing they decided on.
Emily says: "It's very hard for everyone in the choir to miss their mums and dads when they go away, but we wanted to focus on the happy part, when they come home."
Lewis, who lives in Plymouth with dad Keith and mum Claire, says: "We all feel so excited to see our parents, so it’s amazing to say Welcome Home.
"Normal children see their parents every day, it's not the same for my friends in the choir. Some of them find it hard to talk about their feelings so it's easier to express it by singing. I count myself so lucky my dad is always home now."
His dad Keith, Chief Petty Officer Keith Elliott, a former weapons engineer in the Navy, served in the Gulf War in 1991 on HMS London and carried out anti-piracy operations in the Indian ocean.
Keith, 59, left in December 2012 after 34 years to be home with Lewis and Claire, 52.
"It was very difficult being away from Lewis, missing out on his early years," says Keith. "I flew home from the Middle East for the birth for two weeks and had to fly back."
He said: "I can't explain the pain of not seeing Lewis for the first six months and the guilt of not being able to support my wife, leaving her to cope on her own. But to see Lewis singing in the choir makes me so proud."
Lewis, who is also a standard-bearer for the Royal British Legion, says: "I'm proud Dad served for the country."
When Emily was a baby, both her parents were serving as Navy nurses. Her mum Kelly, 43, served for 12 years before leaving when Emily was two years old.
Matt says: "Kelly and I met in service, and loved our work, but we decided having one forces parent on standby for deployments was enough."
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Matt's mainly been stationed in the South West of England as well as long stints in the Mediterranean on migrant rescue operations and in Afghanistan.
Although very young at the time, Lewis says he can remember waving goodbye to his dad when he was deployed, and welcoming him back.
He says: "I remember a place in Plymouth where there are submarines and ships. As I watched Dad come out, we would be just so happy."
During the choir’s performance at the London
Palladium, Matt and Keith say: "The parents were more nervous than the kids."
Matts adds: "Initially, we were hiding our nerves by cheering them on loudly, but when the performance started, we were all bawling. Each and every time they perform, it hits us hard.
"To see them performing on the London Palladium stage was so emotional. Kelly and I both looked at each other and felt we were watching something so special."
The choir was invited to audition on the show by BGT supremo himself, Simon Cowell.
He paid the children a surprise visit when they were rehearsing with the personal invitation to perform in front of him and the other judges - Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Amanda Holden.
Emily says: "When Simon came and told us we could audition, we were all so excited. I thought I'd be nervous at the audition seeing all the judges' faces, but I couldn’t see anything because the lights were so bright."
Lewis adds: "On TV Simon acts so strict but in person he is lovely, and I really liked Ant and Dec, they're so funny. I used to want to be in the Navy, now I think I'd like to work in TV."
BGT's live semi-finals are on tonight, 8pm, and each night this week on ITV.
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