tonight, I'm eating...

Ramen.

Not the cup-o-noodles kind; RAMEN noodles. The kind that you have to break up while it's still in the bag before you put in the microwave and then boil it in the microwave so that it burns your mouth at first bite.

Yes. Ramen.

So, why I am I telling you what I am eating at 10:13 at night?

Well, I'm eating them in honor of someone. It's funny, I actually don't remember the last time I had Ramen noodles. I never once bought them in college though many people talk about it likes it's a staple. So back to who I'm eating in honor of.

I can picture it in my mind right now: he gets his boiling bowl of Ramen noodles out of the microwave, walks slllllooowllly from the kitchen to the living room, puts them on the carpet and proceeds to lay down on his stomach while eating Ramen and watching ESPN. This was something that happened many times.

But tonight I can't watch him do his "Ramen Ritual". You see, a few months back, Caleb told us that he was joining the Marines. It is something I wasn't too surprised about, but the reality of it was not something I like/liked to think about.

So the departure date drew closer and I pushed the reality away even more. And then his recruiter decided to change his leave date for boot camp, oh, about 20 times. Every time they changed it, it gave us more time. Then they changed it to January 11 and this time he really had to leave.

I've been thinking about him since I said goodbye to him on Sunday. He'll come to mind or I'll get ready to send him a text to tell him something and then I'll remember that he is at boot camp. And then I pray. It's hard not knowing how he's handling it all and it makes me mad to think about someone yelling at him (that's the big sister in me). But, then I think about how this is something that the Lord led him to do, so really, all is right.

So Caleb, while you are running your butt off, taking freezing cold showers, getting yelled at and doing more push-ups than you can count, I am thinking and praying for you. And so are many more people.

I am proud of you and I love you.

Now, "get da' peanuut butta oudda ya eahhs. Heauuuuuuuuh!"