BY KYLEE HIGGINS
The lives of people around us are often viewed at surface level, but seeing people on a deeper level, everyone has their own story of how they came to be who they are today.
For Caleb Sager, a 20-year-old hospitality & culinary arts student at Lincoln Land Community College, his story starts from his childhood in Lincoln, Illinois. According to Sager, his mom is someone he’s always looked up to.
“My mom [and I have] always been pretty close,” Sager said. “She’s probably the nicest person in the world. I remember being a kid, and she’d be driving me home from school, and I’d be like, ‘La la la. Is this annoying? Is this annoying?’ and she’d be like, ‘Nope, nope,’ and because she said it wasn’t annoying, I’d stop, so she taught me some life lessons there.”
As for his dad, Sager said he is quite the opposite from his mom.
“My dad, he’s a little different,” Sager said. “I’ve always had a weird relationship with him because you could just say something, and that’ll set him off. Then he’ll freak out and cuss … and then he’ll drive off for hours.”
Despite that, Sager said he holds fond memories of his dad when Sager was a child.
“He was a really good dad when I was a little kid,” Sager said. “He was supportive, and as I grew up … I would do bad in school or something like that, and that would set him off. But now I’m doing good in school, so life is better.”
As for his brother, Sager said they both tend to follow their mom in resolving things with patience and care.
“We’ve never ever argued. We always got along pretty well, so that’s weird because everybody talks about how they butt heads with their siblings,” Sager said.
According to Joshua Sager, Caleb’s brother, though they have never fought, a consequence of growing up and moving out has left them more distant.
“Unfortunately, I sense that our relationship has waned over time simply due to me moving out of the same house and not being able to spend day to day with him,” Joshua said via email. “This is inevitable with most families, but I am thankful that we often find time to enjoy each other’s time and are able to share various interests.”
In addition to his family, something Sager routinely did was attend church in his hometown every Sunday.
“I’ve always gone to church since I was a kid,” Sager said. “I’ve never been apprehensive about [believing in God].”
Though he attended the same church for several years, that changed in 2016 with the break up with his girlfriend at the time.
“I dated this girl for like two years or so … from when I was 16 to when I was 18,” Sager said. “One day, I found out that she wasn’t who I perceived her as. She was big into drugs … was always partying, and she had a thing with my best friend at the time, who went to my church.”
After learning of his ex-girlfriend’s and best friend’s relationship together, Sager said he started spiraling downward.
“I was being really destructive, and it was a really rough time when you feel like the two people who are closest to you aren’t who you thought they were and betray your trust,” Sager said.
While Sager was dealing with this, a friend from high school, Matt Langdon, contacted Sager and reconnected with him.
“Matt reached out to me [and said], ‘Hey, I help out with this new church. Would you like to come with me,’ Sager said. “It was a really good thing of him to do.”
Before going to church together, Sager and Langdon’s friendship began through playing in the same high school band.
“It kind of started in summer band camp. We would have these popsicles, and they’d have little jokes on the side of the stick, and I would walk over and hang with those guys … and I’d say the joke,” Sager said. “Then, we had lunch together with everybody, and we started hanging out with our friend group. It was me, [Matt] and three other guys. We were all band geeks.”
According to Langdon, Sager’s personality clicked with everyone else in the group, which led to them hanging out more often.
“He was super light-hearted [and] loved to joke around,” Langdon said.
With Langdon being a year older than Sager, Langdon eventually left to attend college at Bradley University, and they grew apart as a result of the distance.
“We would text every now and then, [but] Caleb is a really caring person with all of his friends in that he regularly checks up on them, and that’s just really nice,” Langdon said.
But when Langdon eventually saw the result of Sager’s broken relationship, Langdon said he felt like he had to do something to help Sager.
“We met up for coffee one morning, and he was just broken,” Langdon said. “I just had the idea to invite him to church because I feel like that was what he needed at that time.”
From Sager’s breakup, Langdon said Sager’s motivation was crushed.
“He just seemed like he didn’t want to do anything anymore,” Langdon said. “He just needed people in his life.”
But since then, Sager said he has looked back and changed for the better, and through that, he has noticed the difference in who he was versus who he is now.
“I was doing poor in school. I was content with where I was in life. I didn’t have any drive … And now, it’s like, why was I even worried about this? I’m glad it happened. I’m not glad it happened the way it happened, but everything’s worked out.”
Joshua also said he has seen a change in his brother since then.
“I would say that Caleb has matured a lot, especially in the past two to three years,” Joshua said. “I feel that he has experienced a lot in that time that has shaped his attitude towards life and how he perceives others and their interactions with him.”
Langdon said, despite seeing Sager destroyed from his past relationship, he thinks it changed him for the better.
“Ever since then, I feel like he’s taken his life and tried to improve it,” Langdon said. “He’s taken up so many more hobbies and has so many more interests now, and I feel like that’s a big change from where he was from a year and a half ago.”
One hobby that Sager said he enjoys the most is traveling.
“I’ve been a lot of places,” Sager said. “It’s hard to remember them all. I’ve been to like 12 countries … Hopefully, I’m not done yet.”
Because of his penchant for traveling, Sager said he wants to travel the world, but he can’t do that in his hometown.
“There’s no future for me in Lincoln,” Sager said. “I see people who live their whole life in Lincoln, and that’s all they’ll ever do. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I have bigger dreams than Lincoln, Illinois.”
Instead, Sager said he wants to do the opposite.
“I feel like the more you travel, the less close-minded you become,” Sager said. “I want to be eclectic. I want to pick up things from everywhere I go and pick up friends from everywhere I go.”