Easter Without Caleb

Immediately after school got out on the Friday before Easter, I dropped Caleb and his luggage off at the church.  Together with our youth leaders,  several of the priests and laurels from our ward were setting out on a trip to Utah for General Conference.  It was to be a very long but quick trip and because Caleb does not have a cell phone, I had no way whatsoever of reaching him the entire time he was gone.

It was our first Easter apart.  It was the first time I didn't have an Easter basket set out for him.  He was absent from our backyard hunt and our Easter dinner table.  It was hard.  I missed him dearly. And since I had no way of communicating with him, I had the thought, "this is what it will be like when he goes on a mission."

Caleb, however, was having the time of his life.

They made it to SLC on Saturday afternoon.  Caleb attended the afternoon session at the tabernacle. Later they went to see the Christus.

That evening, Caleb got to attend Priesthood session in the conference center.

He tried to blame me for the absence of his belt from his luggage, but since Caleb did all of his own packing, I refuse to accept any guilt.

One thoughtful mom made Easter treats for the all of the youth.  I was not that mom.  The group enjoyed their treats while watching the Sunday morning session in one of their host family's home:

The youth later attended the Sunday afternoon session at the conference center.  He did get to meet up with his BFF's--who now live in Utah--for just a couple of minutes before the session started.

When this picture was texted to me by Landon and Mason's mom I got all teary-eyed:

While Caleb was away, we tried our best to carry on with Easter as usual.  We would all admit that it just wasn't the same, though.

On Monday, after a tour of the church welfare facility, the group started on their way home.  On the way to Boise, where they would stop for the night, they visited the SLC, Bountiful, Odgen, Brigham City and Boise temples.

They made it the rest of the way home on Tuesday, with a stop at the Columbia River temple.  My parents are temple workers on Tuesdays and just happened to pull into the parking lot just as Caleb's group was preparing to leave.  It was so fun for Caleb to get to see them, evening if only for a minute.

I met him back at the church parking lot later that afternoon.  I could scarcely wait for him to get out of the car before wrapping my arms around his neck.  It felt good to have him home.  He's gone away before, but I do believe this was our first holiday apart.  We missed him, but I'm so glad he got such a wonderful opportunity.