Military family marks
Father’s Day without dadThe Cruzes share love for a
deployed soldier by phone and e-mail
Father's Day also marks the seventh wedding anniversary for Sgt. Jeremy Cruz and his wife, Brandy.
But they aren't spending it together.
Jeremy Cruz is deployed to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, from Wheeler Army Airfield.
"It being the anniversary tomorrow is harder than not having him here for Father's Day," said Brandy Cruz, 29.
Their three sons -- Jeremy Jr., 6, Daniel, 7, and Jacob, 8 -- have already sent Father's Day cards they made at Nimitz Elementary School.
Brandy Cruz with her three sons, Jeremy Jr., 6, Daniel, 7, and Jacob, 8.
"I really miss him," said Jeremy Jr. "(On the phone) I tell him that I love you, Dada."
Jeremy and Daniel made a finger-painted card and Jacob drew the sun and the sky for his dad. Jeremy Jr. already e-mailed his dad three times yesterday morning, when it would have already been Father's Day in Afghanistan with the time difference.
"All three show their emotions differently," Cruz said. "The thing that I miss the most is just watching him wrestle around with the kids and tickle them. Just the little things."
Cruz said she plans to take her sons to Hickam Air Force Base for lunch today. If her husband was home for Father's Day, they would have gone out to dinner, or she would have made him his favorite dish, chicken spaghetti.
Last year, Brandy and Jeremy renewed their wedding vows at sunset on the beach at Magic Island.
"It was just amazing," she said.
They thought it would be a perfect time to renew their wedding vows after moving to Hawaii in 2000.
"We thought Hawaii is so nice, we might as well do it here," she said.
Cruz said her husband has no idea what he wants as an anniversary present. When he was deployed to Bosnia a couple of years ago, she said, he had a painting made of a photo they had taken together in Sears earlier.
"It was beautiful," she said.
For Mother's Day this year, he ordered a necklace for Brandy with a family tree with each person's birthstones.
Her husband would joke to her, "I don't know how I'm going to top these two gifts."
Cruz, a web designer, created a Web site for her husband with messages to look at while he was away. On the Web site, she put up pictures of their sons as soon as she has a new roll of film developed.
Jacob, Daniel and Jeremy Jr. have links to each of their own photos of them fishing, ice skating, playing in the sand and singing at school. Cruz made a link titled "Our Hero," with pictures of her husband.
To cope with her husband being overseas, Cruz takes her sons to the beach, miniature golf, movies, anything to have fun together. Cruz said her husband calls home and e-mails every day.
"We rarely miss a call," she said.
