Sophomore Katie Zornow returns home after a long day at school. She sighs and places her heavy, homework-filled backpack on the floor. Her back is sore, her legs cramped from soccer practice. Suddenly, her laptop pings in the corner, and Zornow’s face lights up.
It’s time for her scheduled Facebook chat with Staff Sergeant Nancy Alonso-Lorenzo, the soldier she adopted through the Hugs for Soldiers program.
The impending hours of homework and weary muscles are forgotten. She turns her head towards the screen. At a military base in Afghanistan, Alonso-Lorenzo does the same.
Maybe today they’ll talk about Alonso- Lorenzo’s love of the Twilight Saga and how she’s almost finished the fourth book. Or perhaps Zornow will update Alonso-Lorenzo about preparations for the upcoming soccer season, and Alonso- Lorenzo will counter with training tips.
No matter what they talk about, Zornow’s conversations with Alonso-Lorenzo are worth the long process she went through to find her soldier.
The hours spent convincing her parents, showing them evidence that the Hugs for Soldiers program was going to impact someone else’s life. Telling her mother that “letters are like gold” for the lonely soldiers removed from their families.
The exciting messages back and forth to her cousin, Phillip, a member of the army, acted as her inspiration.
The pride she felt when she had her first letter sealed shut and postmarked, ready to be sent 6,965 miles around the world to a complete stranger.
The thrill of checking the mailbox that January day and finding the letter, unique with its foreign postmarks and worn appearance. The cool chill of the paper on her fingers as she tore through the envelope. That final, roller-coaster drop of emotion as she read the tiny words in Alonso- Lorenzo’s elegant cursive handwriting. “Dear Katie.”