Eighteen. How is this even possible? From the tiny baby who gave us our most treasured titles - Dad and Mom - to the young man that stands towering over us today, it has been a true joy watching you grow. As with so many milestones in life, we look back on our parenting journey with you and wonder how we ever made it to where we are today.
We brought you home from the hospital completely clueless about what we were doing. Neither one of us had much experience with newborns and neither one of us functions well on a lack of sleep. The days were hard and the nights were even harder. You had those two mixed up quite a bit and thoroughly enjoyed sleeping all day, but keeping us on our toes all night! However, in true Caleb fashion, you figured it out and what we thought was going to be a challenge until the end of time was just a phase. You started to sleep and you slept SO well that other parents couldn't believe we had a baby sleeping 12 hours a night at eight weeks old. And, true to your personality to this day, a good night of sleep left you the happiest little baby on the planet! You were always smiling - that same smile you have today that makes your whole face light up.
That smile carried you straight into the adorable toddler and preschool years. You had your moments of being a stubborn little guy, but for the most part, you also made that phase a lot easier than it could have been. You were incredibly curious. You always wanted to explore the world around you, but did so with extreme caution. If you didn't know what to expect or how to do it, you often just avoided it altogether. You asked so many questions, loved having books read to you, could watch TV for hours (even though we wouldn't let you), and loved to be outside. You were ecstatic about going to school and, in your independent way, had absolutely no reservations about leaving us for a few hours of preschool. You soaked up those years of playing and learning and always had something new that you discovered and had to share with us. Needless to say, you were more than ready when the elementary school years began.
You jumped into kindergarten head first and were already lightyears ahead of your peers. You could read with ease, had an expansive vocabulary, and could talk for hours and hours. Sometimes it felt like too much talking, but we'd give anything to go back and hear that sweet voice rambling on about whatever had your attention that day. Time passed and each of those elementary years was filled with fun memories and the forming of some great friendships. When you weren't at school, you were almost always on the move having fun with friends and neighbors. You loved trying new sports and activities and were lucky enough to have Dad as a coach for many of those endeavors. If and when you slowed down for a bit, you were almost always filling your time with a book or "educational" show (which you didn't always like at the time, but now perhaps see why we pushed so much for watching tv, movies, or documentaries that taught you something). You also had a huge passion for creating things. You were an amazing artist and could build Legos for hours!
The later elementary and junior high years came with their challenges, but we know that many of them were just part of the process of growing up. You had a hard time figuring out who you were and desperately wanted to be liked and accepted by everyone. In your black and white mind, it didn't seem to make sense that peers couldn't just all be nice to one another. The harsh reality that the kindness we instilled in you from early on was not always met with kindness in return was a hard lesson to learn. Thankfully you clung tight to the good, solid friendships you had and pushed through as best as you could. And, just as life in the early teen years was beginning to make just a bit of sense, Covid hit and everything got flipped upside down. Our family made the most of it and we bonded more than we would've otherwise done if life had remained moving at the speed of light. You thrived because you've always found comfort and solace in the familiarity of home, family, and time together.
When life finally returned to normal, you returned to life in one of the most abnormal phases - junior high. Those two years were odd in general, but even more unique with the many restrictions put in place from Covid. Nonetheless, you made it through and then jumped into high school head first. It's true when people claim that the high school years will fly by. Here we are on the cusp on you graduating and it seems like we just started this journey. It's been a rollercoaster ride for these four years, but we would do it all again if it meant seeing you where you are today. Hours upon hours of tears have been shed and some of the toughest parenting moments were experienced. Freshman year was extremely hard and the adjustment to life as a high schooler didn't come easy for you. Thankfully we ended up in a much better place after getting to the bottom of your struggles and the second half of high school has been significantly easier than the first half. You have come a long way since initially being diagnosed with ADHD and we are proud of how much you've overcome. You are leaving high school behind knowing that you achieved many of the goals you set for yourself. You stuck it out with football and wrestling for four years and grew so much in both of those extremely demanding sports. And, whereas most people quit and drop down to just one sport, you set your mind to it and are graduating as a three sport athlete for all four years. When you decided that volleyball wasn't for you, you changed gears and gave an entirely new sport a try - water polo. This once again highlights one of our most favorite traits about you. You aren't afraid to try something new and have such an amazing ability to just jump all in with no hesitation. On top of sports, you've managed to keep a very rigorous class load, continue on with your musical career, have held down several jobs, stay involved in church, and take time to make sure your family and friends are prioritized. You are an amazing brother to your siblings, are the friend that's always down for a good time, care deeply for your extended family, and (though you drive us crazy at times) make us extremely proud as your parents.
We have certainly enjoyed having a front row seat to the beautiful story that has begun to unfold in your life. While we know that many of these moments and memories from infancy to now will one day be forgotten, we are incredibly thankful for the gift of eighteen years with you. From the big moments....vacations, holidays, and millions of milestones...to all of the seemingly insignificant ones, every bit of these years has been filled with so much goodness, love, and joy. God has used all of the good (and even some of the toughest times) to shape you into the young man that you are today. You are resilient, kind, intelligent, loyal, and so much more. You've taught us far more than we could have ever taught you and we can only hope that your future is a bright as the days gone by. This milestone birthday is technically the end of childhood, but to us, you'll always be our beloved little boy. We hope that the childhood we provided was just as wonderful for you as it was for us to witness. We pray that you continue to follow the path that you've been on, because it is clear that God is going to use you to do great things. Stay close to Him, true to who you are, and go make your mark on this world. We love you and are so proud to call you our son.
Love,
Dad and Mom
