The Thing about a 10 Year Old

Our ten year old is Caleb. Caleb is a marvelous boy with so many gifts. Caleb's gifts are not the sort that are as easily recognizable as some other peoples gifts but they are very important and very genuine.

Caleb has the most fun sense of humour, which he gets from his Dad. Caleb can make anyone laugh and sometimes at his own expense. He doesn't mind looking "uncool" if it gets a laugh it was worth it. We all laugh daily at Caleb. He is especially good at knowing just when to throw out a movie quote that fits the topic of discussion and can make us all laugh. He can always make a tense moment into a fun experience. Just a couple of days ago the boys and I were driving home from town and I was giving a stirring lecture on something like why we don't hang on the trees outside of the church or why we look people in the eyes when we order food or maybe it was about why we treat a brother better than we would treat anyone else, it could have been any number of things really. The boys listened for at least 10 minutes without saying a word so I asked, " Are you listening to me?" " Yes Mom." reported Caleb, "We are smellin' what you're stinkin'" Now normally I don't find those things funny but it reminded me to chill out a bit and find the humour in the response. Caleb is always a comic relief.

Our ten year old tries very hard. He has a twelve year old brother who picks up on anything with ease so Caleb tries hard to keep up. But Caleb works hard, tries hard and does very well at anything he puts his mind to. This year in basketball he was on the same team as Mckay and started off not knowing exactly what to do. By the end of the year Caleb was named the team's "Best Hustler" and had improved so dramatically that he was one of the top players, even fans from the other teams cheered on Caleb because of his impressive hustle.

Caleb's best gift is his soft heart and tender feelings for the underdog. Caleb befriends the friendless and even though he is the smallest in his entire class he is know for sticking up for the children that are bulllied. You can always find Caleb cheering someone sad. The other day at school the most popular girl in the class was heard telling another girl that she dresses horribly and it looks like she has a poor family. Caleb walked up to the very sheepish young lady and told her that he thought she dressed well and asked her to play with him that afternoon. Caleb has also taken it upon himself to help an older grandpa in the ward. Every Sunday Caleb finds Mr.Lunzer and helps him across the slippery parking lot to and from the church building to his car. His example has encouraged his older brother and several other young men to do the same thing for other seniors in the ward. We love Caleb's compassion.

Yes, Caleb can be a little rowdy in primary class and his humour a little disruptive in his school class but Caleb has the qualities that really count and we love him for all these good things. We would have a big hole in our family without this ten year old.