‘What Makes You Thankful?’

By LOLIANA SORRELS, GB Youth Board

Published: November 20, 2003

To commemorate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, Loliana Sorrels was asked “What makes you thankful?” This is her response.

I am thankful that I can hear, so I can enjoy music and communicate with my friends. I am thankful that I have the sense of touch; when my parents hold my hand or give me a hug, I can feel their warmth. I am thankful that I can talk, which allows me to express myself in prayer.

I am thankful for the teachers, coaches and mentors from Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Fairburn who have ensured that I am prepared for college. I am thankful for my volleyball coach, who has been a blessing in my life. He has brought me so far in the year that he has been working with me.

I am thankful for the love of my parents. My parents are very loving and they would do anything for me. At the same time they are very strict, but I know it is for my own good. I have developed my morals and values from them, and I know that no matter what I do, they will always love me. I would like to tell you a little about them.

In 1985, I was born in Heidelberg, Germany. Both of my parents were in the U.S. Army. My father was in the infantry and my mother was a mechanic. They were often deployed, so I stayed with my grandfather a lot. After nine years of service, my mother decided that it was not fair to me that she was always gone, so she got out of the Army. I was so happy because she was able to help with school functions and just spend more time with me.

My Dad, on the other hand, was still busy and never really home much. The military life kept us on the move. We lived and traveled to many places such as Korea, Japan, Alaska, Guam and the Philippines.

I have to admit, I liked the lifestyle. Getting to visit many different places and meet different people has been very rewarding.

I also learned about war and terrorism at an earlier age than most kids. Living in South Korea and traveling in the Philippines as an American military family required us to take extra precautions.

We would move every three to four years and once we moved three times in three years.

Through the years a lot of stress was put on our lives, due to deployments and dangerous situations. My Dad decided that he was going to change his field so we could have more family time. He put in his paperwork and changed his specialty to strategic plans and policy.

This change moved us to Fayetteville. My parents wanted to stabilize here so that I could attend and graduate from high school at one place. I interviewed with admissions at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School, was accepted and have been there ever since. Things were a little rough in the beginning since this was the ninth school that I would attend, but the teachers have been great and ensured that I am prepared to make that move to college. I attended ninth to 11th grade at Mercy and then, guess what, it was time to pack up and move again. My parents did not think that it was a good time in my life to move again, so my Dad put in a request for an extension so that I would be able to finish high school in one place, and it was approved.

My Dad was right about changing fields for more family time; he began to get more weekends off and would come home at a decent hour, but all of that was about to change—Sept. 11, 2001.

When the attacks occurred I remember being extremely upset because of the tragedy and the deaths that occurred. I was also extremely worried that my father would have to leave because of the coming war. I ran to the phone and called my Dad that morning, sobbing. I listened to him tell me that everything was going to be OK.

Understandably, our lives went back to the way they were, late nights at work, working on the weekends and traveling a lot, but my Dad was not deployed. I am very much aware that compared to many families that were affected that day, I am lucky that I still have my father with me. Also, there are thousands of military families whose loved ones have been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and a number of other places. Some of these fathers, mothers, sons and daughters have given their lives in the war. Going back to this lifestyle was hard, and even though he is not around as much as I would like, I am very thankful that he is still here. I know that he probably will eventually deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, but I am thankful that he has been here with me for this important time of my life.

This is what I am most thankful for, that my father is still here with our family. Although, since Sept. 11, he has worked a lot, I know that he is coming home at night and he is safe. I know that every night when he walks in the door, he will say, “hi sweetie,” give me a hug and ask me how my day was.

My father has done so much for me. He tries not to miss anything that I am involved with. I cannot begin to tell you how many events that he would attend to see me and stay until 8:30-9 at night and then go back to work. He has missed many things by being deployed, but he always does whatever he can to attend the things he can when he is here. He has always been there for me. He has also taught me that I can accomplish anything if I put my mind to it and try my hardest.

God has blessed me with a very loving father whom I love very much. This is what makes me most thankful.

Loliana Sorrells belongs to Holy Trinity Church, Peachtree City.