I knew right as I started to pour, something was off. The coffee sludged out of the press in my mug. Strange, I must have used too much. I like really dark coffee and it’s not uncommon for me to overdo it.
Still hopeful, I grabbed my new white chocolate creamer and mixed it in with a butter knife.
First sip thoughts: Woah, there are grounds in there. What did I do wrong?
Read MoreDuring a goal setting session with a friend, I shared self-disappointment.
“I love Brave Tutu so much and with everything going on, I regret that I haven’t written a piece in so long. I just don’t know where to begin.”
“Why don’t you start there?” she said.
“Start with my disappointment and sadness?”
“Yeah, and how you’re not sure where to kick it off,” my friend encouraged. “If nothing else, it will be a good free write.”
Oh Claire Campbell, you are so wise.
Brave Tutu’s essence is to shine the light on small moments of significance—to uncover their rawness, wonder, beauty and even grief. However, for months I’ve felt stalled out. With added pressure, I wanted the January piece to serve as a mighty capstone of the last year and offer solid hope moving forward. But after a mind mushed from 2020 and the deadly insurrection at the Capitol, picking up the pen to dive into this space felt like writing on college-ruled paper with a magic marker. Impossible.
Read MoreI hope you will forgive me when I break format for this post. I can’t provide a SINGLE circumstance in this piece because this dream come true for me was built on what feels like a million moments.
Read MoreAmidst a sea of positivity, I let one voice stop me from swimming. Anyone relate? I had a funny idea. One that makes me laugh just thinking of it. An idea that others joined in with amusement and encouraged me to try. Did I listen to their voices? Nope. Did I let the voice of one friend, who laughed (not in a good way) at my idea get to me?
YES!
Read MoreDuring the pandemic, I tend to begin messages this way— “I hope this email finds you well during this surreal season.” Whether it’s a work contact I’ve never met or someone I’ve known for years, I imagine saying so much more. Let’s face it, this one-sentence greeting barely scratches the surface of what may be happening off screen in their daily lives—of how the email really “finds” them. I want to reach through the ether and just give them a hug. I think about the words I wish to share…
Read MoreMISSION: Find and eat the sugar cubes! As kids, we spent HOURS playing church hide and seek. We felt like finding sugar cubes was a simple extension of the game. Parish halls = coffee. Coffee = sugar. Simple math.
When we were really young, sugar cubes were still a thing and our dad was a visiting minister. We had many new territories to explore. We tested unlocked doors, snuck into nurseries and scoured cupboards. The entire campus was our playground.
Read More"If not now, when?" I'm hanging onto these words, assuring myself I've made the right decision. A million thoughts and pictures of my previous life run through my mind, but I remember a quote I once had read: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown".
Read MoreThe first social distance weekend of March, I got a call, not a text, from someone I dated in 2018. We weren’t serious, but we had a connection. He asked if he could take me out after all this was over.
Read MoreA man jogs towards me on the sidewalk and then goes into the street to give me six feet of space. I wave and smile. He does too. In that moment, there is a connection of care. In the necessary distance, I link with this stranger. It’s a total juxtaposition; we join through separation. Bizarre.
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