A Florida woman found a unique way to include her deployed husband in their annual Christmas photo.
Danielle Cobo, who lives in Tampa, is spending Christmas without her husband for the first time since they were married in 2013, WTVT reported. Her husband, who closed his medical marketing business to join the Army less than a year after their wedding, was deployed overseas in early 2019 and is serving overseas with the Army as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, WFTS reported.
“Every time you go to bed, you’re constantly reminded that they’re not here. Every time you have a tradition you normally do and they’re not there,” Cobo told the television station.
With her husband overseas, Cobo decided to create a holiday photo that included her, her husband and their twin sons, who are 2 1/2 years old. The cards feature Cobo and her sons on one side of the card. She is reaching her hand out. On the other half of the photo, Cobo’s husband is shown standing in front of a helicopter, stretching his left hand out as if touching his wife.
"I said 'Can you take a photo of you in your uniform with your hand out?' He really had no idea what I was doing," Cobo told WFTS.
Cobo enlisted photographer Shannon Sturgeon to digitally place her husband in the photograph, according to "Good Morning America."
"I love the holidays," Cobo told WTVT. "I love Christmas cards. I save Christmas cards. It's just a way of showing people that though we are apart, we are a family."
Cobo said her husband’s deployment should end in the spring of 2020. Until then, the photograph will serve as a reminder to her and the children that he is not far away.
"Even though we're miles apart, we're still close together. We're still a family unit and our hearts are in the right place," Cobo told WFTS.
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