Caleb at College: Week 6... Plus One

I really enjoy Caleb's FaceTime calls each week. He continues to be in good spirits, and sounds confident. He seems to be enjoying his roommates, ROTC and independence. He and all of his roommates are completely COVID symptom free and back to normal. As a matter of fact, one of his roommates told him that there is a place near campus where you can donate plasma for money...so not only did he decide to hit that up, but since he also has COVID antibodies, he gets paid a whole lot more. I guess he has found a source of easy income. 

Jacob also led the family in putting together a Halloween box to send for Caleb for Family Home Evening. We put in the Robin costume he had asked for, as well as some Halloween lights, a decoration skull, some pumpkin carving tools, money to buy a pumpkin, a card make by Riley and some candy. Jacob and Riley decorated the outside of the box with spooky drawings. Caleb showed us that he had received the box and already decorated his room with the lights and skull. He was pretty excited to have a piece of home to help enjoy the upcoming holiday.

Here are his week's highlights.

The Coolest Thing: Caleb showed me his new physical training (PT) uniform. He also aced his PT test for the ROTC. He ran an ridiculously fast 8 minute 1.5 miles, then did 63 situps and 60 pushups. He has been continuing to run at 4:30am every morning and do various kinds of pushups. He also likes to do various pullups on the apartment pullup bar every time he goes by it. 

The Craziest Thing: He discovered Saturday evening grocery madness in Provo! LOL He needed a couple of last minute items from Smith's, so he rode his bike over there around 9pm. He discovered that every single cart and basket was being used, and that the store was jam packed with couples and other young people scrambling to collect their groceries before the sabbath on Sunday. He had to resort to putting his groceries into his backpack since there was nothing else to carry them in until he could get to the check out. He has now learned and resolved to never venture out to the grocery store on a Saturday night. 

The Worst Thing: Long days of homework have been a harsh reality of college. After a morning run, he had 7 hours of homework to keep himself busy one day. 

The Tender Mercy: Caleb was, again, saved by the Spirit late at night. He was kneeling by his bed to pray, about to go to bed, when out of nowhere an assignment popped into his head which he needed to complete and turn in for his religion class.

In other news, he was able to participate in the flag retreat in front of the BYU administration building with the ROTC. He still does not have his dress blues, but he wears his khaki pants and navy polo as his uniform. He was the one in charge of folding the flag. He talked about how disappointed his was in the students who happened to be nearby when they were doing the retreat. The National Anthem was playing, and the detachment was at attention, then proceeded to do their work. All the while, students were talking loudly, one was even cursing, and walking right by them without showing any respect for the flag, the Anthem or any of it. He expected more from BYU students. We talked about character and patriotism, and how important it is to teach these qualities to our children. He resolved that his children would be raised like he was.

Also, in ROTC news, Caleb called me again on Monday for a special report. I never know if a mid-week call from him will be one of distress or one of joy. Thankfully, this was one of joy. He had just come out of his semester interview with his CO, Captain Johnson. He had gotten to practice all the protocols he had learned about how to report to his CO...how to knock, enter, salute, give the greeting of the day, etc. The interview went very well, and his CO said what a great job Caleb has been doing. He has been outstanding in his PT (obviously) and is well on his way towards his goal of submitting a strong application to the pilot training program someday. Caleb was told that he could join a special program which includes going up on flights with actual Air Force instructors for some flight hours! He would be able to start in a few weeks! Caleb was soooo excited. I could tell by his voice that he was just glowing right through the phone. 

The "cherry on top" as he described it, was that when it was time for him to leave the interview, he checked his watch to be sure that it was still morning and not noon. Once it officially turns from morning to noon, or afternoon to evening, the cadets are supposed to adjust the greeting of the day accordingly. From "Good morning, sir" to "Good afternoon, sir". Well, Caleb did as instructed and gave the appropriate greeting, after which Captain Johnson commended him on being able to master reading his watch, as apparently several cadets had failed to do so. Caleb was so proud! He really is taking to this military thing like a duck to water. He was on cloud nine as he rode home on his bike. Way to go, Caleb!