Third Grade Bio - Revisited

In third grade at Archway Chandler, the class was split into partners. We were assigned to gather information about one another and to write a short biography. This is the biography that Jerod Folden wrote about me:

CALEB'S LIFE by Jerod Folden 

    Caleb Joshua Gottry is a friend of mine. He is named after Caleb in the Bible who did good. Caleb's nickname is Smiley Guy because he smiles all the time. His eye color is blue, he wears braces, his hair color is blond, and he is about 4 feet tall. He was born in 2004 at 10:30 in the morning. He lives in Gilbert. 

 

    Caleb's sister is Emily. She is 11 years old. His mom is named Amy and his dad is named Joshua. They are both music teachers. He has no pets now, but used to have a fish that had no name (and that died). He also had a millipede that had a name which Caleb doesn't remember. He wants a pet monkey named Swinger to play with. He likes monkeys because they are active.

    Caleb's favorites are the colors red, blue, and black, meatball subs, How to Train Your Dragon, basketball, drama, and Star Wars. His dislikes are the color white and cooked veggies. His most prized possession is a pottery painting of a turtle. It's his prized possession because it's cute and it reminds him of his grandma. 

    Caleb wants to be a detective when he grows up. he wants to be a detective because his uncle is and because he wants to save people from getting hurt, being accused, or getting robbed. If he could go anywhere, Caleb would go to Africa because he likes monkeys and elephants. If he could do anything at all, he would talk to all of the animals in the world. He wants to invent a rocket that can survive a black hole so he could study it. That's Caleb! 

 

Alright, so those of you who know me now and didn't know me then might be a little confused. Granted, this is a small window into the past, but a lot of things have changed. Let me dive into this more specifically. 

First of all, I know that Jerod and I were not great friends back in third grade so I'm guessing that first line was given to us as part of the assignment. Most of the first paragraph remains true. I am no longer four feet tall (phew) and I don't have braces any more. I also haven't heard "Smiley Guy" for a while and it was more of a familial name, but I've still never really had a nickname in the traditional sense. 

My family is represented accurately in the second paragraph (no, my sister is not 11 anymore, but you can do the math). The description of my pet history is kind of depressing and I don't know how I didn't know the name of the millipede then and yet I do now. His name was Feelers. After getting the opportunity to foster a dog for a while this year, I can say that I would love to have a dog at some point in my life again. Taking care of a monkey seems like a lot of work... even more than taking care of a dog.

My favorite color is blue. How can you have more than one favorite color? Favorite food: Enchiladas, though I still do love a good meatball sub. I remember really liking the How To Train Your Dragon series, but I'd have trouble picking a favorite book or series today. Three great reads are If You're Reading This by Trent Reedy, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (listed in no particular order). Some of my other likes are choir, drama, church activities and service, biking, disk golf, guitar, and still Star Wars. I don't know why I didn't like the color white, but I don't have anything against it now--same goes for cooked veggies, although I'm not a fan of peas. Otherwise, I don't like the things most people don't like: headaches, traffic, going to the dentist, great books with terrible endings, an overly full email inbox, etc. If I had to pick a most prized possession it would be somewhere in my guitar corner in my room. I still have that pottery turtle that I painted with my grandma on a shelf though.

Nothing in the fourth paragraph is true about my ambitions anymore. Being a detective seems like a stressful job, just based on who you're dealing with, the mental requirement, and the importance of the job. Also, my uncle is a forest ranger. As far as Africa goes, I would like to stay right where I am, with friends and family all around me, a familiar place, great food, mild winters, and lots of pool time in the summer. Next, I would hope that if I could do anything, I would chose a nobler end than talking to animals. Finally, going into space sounds extremely frightening and dangerous and studying a black hole sounds very scientific which is not my favorite subject in school. While I may not be able to come back here after college and I doubt I will ever have the ability to “do anything,” I do still have ambitions. For college I am looking at a variety of schools in Arizona, Colorado, California, and Texas, so I can be close to home and/or family. I will likely be pursuing a degree in journalism and I will go wherever that takes me in life, be it sports, business, entertainment, governmental, or in another area.

Well, that was certainly an interesting dive into my then and now. I'll have to revisit this in ten years to see how it all panned out. Thanks for reading and as Jerod said, "That's Caleb!".

Check out my YouTube channel! I posted new videos on Tuesday: A fun Original Rap, and another One Minute Cover.