LEVITTOWN, N.Y. – A father home from a seven-month deployment surprised his son at a New York high school, and their heartwarming reunion was captured on camera.
Rodriguez planned the homecoming with some help from the school’s principal who called Amani to his office, worrying the ninth grader.
"My wife was outside and she goes like, ‘Amani I received a phone call saying that I had to come over here,’ and he was concerned," Rodriguez told WPIX. "Then the principal walked him in, which was the sign that he was right behind them, and then I was just standing there and that's when he saw me."
While Rodriguez has been in the Air Force for more than a decade, he said this absence was different because Amani is now older and needs a strong support system.
"It was a long embrace," Rodriguez said. "He did not want to let go and he is an emotional [person]."
Rodriguez says he will be home in Levittown, N.Y. for the foreseeable future. The whole family will be traveling together to New Zealand and Australia in April.
