The Tenderness of Honesty

The Tenderness of Honesty

By Annette Camp 

September 10, 2025 

I said too much,

too soon, and the 

word love slipped 

out of me like breath 

I couldn’t hold.

You left it unanswered,

a weight pressed 

against my chest,

the simple expression 

of good night cut deep.

I erased the text,

as if deletion could 

rewrite the moment,

as if feelings vanish

when pulled back 

into the shadow.

But they don’t.

They live, they ache,

they insist on being heard.

And then came your 

apology for the silence.

It was enough to remind 

me that we are trying,

fumbling forward,

learning how to stand in 

the tenderness of honesty.

It makes my heart sing

when we step into this

open communication 

together, laying down 

what is fragile, even 

when it’s uncomfortable

or painful. It is real.

I love that about us,

the pause to reflect 

what that means for 

ourselves, as well as 

in the dynamic of us.

Here, between the words,

is where we build something

strong and steady —

the pause before response,

the owning of what stings,

the reaching for forgiveness.

I hope in the warmth of 

your presence, we can 

carry this understanding 

into the space beyond screens, 

where silence is a moment 

meant for gathering what 

is true before we place it 

in each other’s hands.

Answering Fear, Not Fleeing

Answering Fear, Not Fleeing

By Annette Camp 

September 6, 2025

Fear rises,

a familiar pull at the 

edges of my heart.

It whispers to retreat, 

to protect, to run before 

I feel the weight of loss again.

But this time, I pause.

I notice the tremor, the 

instinct to escape,

and instead of yielding,

I let the fear speak.

I listen.

I see what it carries—

memories, pain, patterns,

and I respond with 

awareness, not avoidance.

You lay out your truths 

like letters in a box,

folded carefully, honored

but not ruling the present.

I honor mine,

acknowledge the past,

and choose presence.

Together we step slowly,

with patience as our guide,

with words bridging 

uncertainty, with care 

that builds rather than divides.

This lesson is not about 

perfection, but about 

choosing to stay,

to answer fear with 

attention, to turn 

toward connection,

and let trust grow

quietly in its place.

Whispers and Welcome

Whispers and Welcome

By Annette Camp 

September 1, 2025

Coming home to Alabama,

there's no need to explain my accent.

I don’t have to bike the whole neighborhood,

paddle a river, or climb a mountain

to feel that I belong.

In Colorado, the mountains and rivers welcome me,

their vastness and light carrying a quiet joy,

neighborhoods stretching wide and still,

inviting me to wander, to breathe, to discover.

Here, Alabama greets me differently.

Pink blossoms nod in the afternoon breeze,

light showers scatter across the yard,

and birds chirp to awaken the day.

Family surrounds me, my best friend nearby,

and the air itself lets me simply be.

The door creaks open for me,

bringing to mind all that I love -

the people, laughter, hugs, warmth -

and I settle into the rhythm of my dad's home.

Returning, old streets whisper memories,

and the possibility of staying longer than a moment

stirs quietly inside me.

I look toward the future with curiosity,

wondering which places, which people,

which rhythms and spaces,

will hold me, shape me,

and finally make me feel at home.

A Sacred Prayer

A Sacred Prayer

By Annette Camp 

September 4, 2025

Prayer does not rush;

it unfolds in deliberate

meditative, affirmative pauses

and deep, conscious breathing.

Each breath draws me inward

and grounds me in the present.

I become aware of the quiet

currents beneath my restless mind.

Affirmations provide clarity

and bring intention to this moment.

They guide me gently

and soften tension within.

The pauses unfold—

deliberate, reflective, tender.

Prayer invites me to linger

and rest in quiet understanding.

I honor the stillness around me,

listening deeply to my heart's messages.

Each moment offers gentle guidance,

shaping understanding without hurry.

True guidance is not found in speed,

but in breath, in attentive presence.

In these quiet pauses, I discover

what my soul has been seeking.

With each inhale, I gather clarity,

with each exhale, I let go of tension.

These deep, conscious breaths guide me,

revealing patience, presence, and calm.

The map of my inner life

emerges very slowly.

With every inhale and exhale,

a prayer unfolds within me.

This is Gratitude

This is Gratitude

By Annette Camp 

July 20, 2025

The best part of my day

was sitting at a round table,

sandwiches half-eaten,

stories fully shared.

Amid the swirl of caffeine,

two friends talk of hockey,

tennis, volleyball, pickleball

and my favorite - the Packers.

We spoke of Graceland dreams

and the ache of motherhood,

threading happiness and sorrow,

letting both belong.

Each story shared with me

is a window and a mirror:

a chance to see,

a chance to reflect.

Her body is close,

yet her heart is closer.

I felt heard. 

I felt connected.

And as the moments stretched 

gently between us,

I felt something deeper 

than contentment.

A fullness rising like breath 

in my chest, not just for coffee,

food or conversation,

but for a simple, sacred truth.

The quiet joy of realizing:

this is gratitude.

A Kaleidoscope of Healing

A Kaleidoscope of Healing

By Annette Camp 

June 30, 2025

My spiritual and religious journey

has been a path of light and shadow.

I've come to see that my soul was shaped

by those who mirrored the sacred in me.

The ones who were supportive,

valued wisdom, fostered a sense

of community, and modeled the

importance of service and justice work.

My journey of spirit was also once

marked by immeasurable pain, where

others' judgments cut deep, and their

rejection left me silently aching.

Feeling powerless, grieving, and resentful—

carrying wounds where love was longed for.

The hurt ran far beneath the surface,

a quiet void where welcome should've been.

I’ve taken these piercing fragments

and pieced them into a mosaic,

spinning in patterns of beauty.

Now, I have a kaleidoscope of healing.

Between Streetlights and Screens

Between Streetlights and Screens

By Annette Camp 

June 25, 2025

I was born in the 1970s.

I’m Generation X.

And I’m proud to be one.

We are the original latchkey kids.

The ones who walked home from school

with a house key around our necks

and a note on the counter that said,

“Dinner’s in the fridge.”

We learned independence early—

because we had to.

Our parents were working, divorcing,

or just doing their own thing.

So we figured things out on our own—

quietly, creatively, and with grit.

We were raised on three TV channels,

Saturday morning cartoons,

and streetlights as curfews.

We played outside until

the dusk buzzed us home.

We are the mixtape makers.

The Walkman warriors.

The ones who rewound VHS tapes,

recorded songs off the radio,

and waited weeks for film

to be developed.

We grew up with

Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street,

Schoolhouse Rock,

The Brady Bunch, The Muppets,

and Soul Train.

We also watched

the Berlin Wall fall,

the Challenger explode,

and MTV actually play music.

We watched the world change, fast.

We saw the end of the Vietnam War.

Lived through the Cold War,

the crack epidemic,

“Just Say No” campaigns,

and the AIDS crisis.

We’ve seen technology evolve

from Atari to AI.

We danced to vinyl,

then cassettes,

then CDs—

memorizing lyrics

long before Google could help.

We survived rotary phones,

busy signals,

floppy disks,

and dial-up modems.

We printed pixelated banners

on dot matrix printers

that took all afternoon.

We learned to code, just to

change our MySpace page.

We were the last generation

to grow up without the internet

and the first to raise kids

in a world that never shuts off.

We lived before likes, hashtags,

and constant comparison.

Privacy was real.

Mistakes were our own,

not viral content.

We straddle two worlds:

Analog and digital.

Pay phones and smartphones.

Common sense and constant scroll.

We entered adulthood

through recessions,

layoffs,

downsizing,

and broken promises—

but we kept going.

We never expected life to be easy—

just real.

We were told to keep our heads down

and get to work.

No hand-holding.

No “safe spaces.”

Just figure it out.

And we did.

We’ve seen empires fall,

systems fail,

ideals shift—

but we’re still here.

We’ve been raising families,

caring for aging parents,

and learning how to feel

in a world that told us

to toughen up.

We are the quiet rebels.

The underdogs.

The skeptics who still hope.

We’ve seen enough to question everything

but we still believe in doing better.

In showing up.

In authenticity

over image.

We’re breaking cycles.

Drinking water.

Going to therapy.

Healing.

Still raising hell

when it matters.

We are Generation X.

The quiet force.

The resilient bridge

between Boomers and Millennials,

old school and what’s next.

We’re not trying to go back.

We’re building forward—

with wisdom,

wit, and

weathered hearts.

We are Generation X.

And we’ve got this.

Everything Hangs in This Moment

Everything Hangs in This Moment

By Annette Camp 

June 18, 2025

He sat on the edge of the bench

wood hard beneath him.

Men shuffled in and out,

sentences trailing behind them:

time, fines - one word 

enough to change everything.

He waited.

Back straight.

Hands clenched in his lap,

gripping the outline of hope.

Don’t unravel.

Then, his name echoed through the chamber.

As his mother silently pleaded:

Don’t lock him away from the very soil

that’s just beginning to ground him.

Let him keep building the life 

that now calls to him

of second chances.

She wanted the judge to see

the man he was trying to become,

not just the moment of his worst mistake.

She had watched him fall

hard and often, but she had 

also seen him rise in rehab.

Don’t take this from him,

she begged with her bones.

Not now.

Not when he’s growing like

the agriculture around him.

Let him keep his place at Harvest Farms

not because he’s earned it yet,

but because he’s trying.

Because he’s showing up every day

when it would be easier to run.

She wanted the judge to see

the quiet miracle of him 

showing up each day to do 

his work from the inside out.

He stood when his name was called.

Not confident,

but not crumbling either.

Each step forward

was its own small vow:

I’m not who I was.

Not anymore.

He didn’t glance back,

but if he had,

he would’ve seen her—

his mother,

anchored in stillness.

He would have seen in her eyes

not fear,

not pity,

but belief.

The kind that doesn’t waver

when the world does.

She carried it for him.

After the public defender

stated that he had started

the New Life rehab 

program, the judge said, 

“That’s a great program.”

Those words felt like 

more than mercy. 

It was a lifeline.

Healing in His Eyes

Healing in His Eyes 

By Annette Camp 

June 10, 2025

Tears swell in his eyes

not from pain, but 

from something gentler, 

something newly born.

He sits beside me,

words trembling out

like leaves shaken loose

by a sudden gust of truth.

“I feel happy,” he says,

as if tasting it for the first time,

as if happiness were a language

he never knew he could speak.

And I listen —

so deeply it stirs something raw —

because this is not a phrase

he would have said before.

My own eyes fill,

not with sorrow,

but with the unbearable beauty

of watching someone return to themselves.

This is no longer the image

etched by years of restless nights,

the scream of anger, and

echoes of trembling with fear.

With this new truth,

healing begins —

a happiness reborn

within both our hearts.

This is a man carrying his 

soul with intention,

moving toward something greater

than simply making it through.

This is a rebirth,

a rising of purpose

carved from the hardest 

stones of struggle.

Hope for His Recovery

Hope for His Recovery 

By Annette Camp 

June 3, 2025

Tonight, I whispered to the moon:

Let him come back whole.

Let him come back happy.

Let him remember how it feels

to sleep without worry,

to wake without pain.

This silence aches, but it’s

softer than the anxiety that 

used to gnaw me awake at 2am,

wondering if he was cold,

curled up in the backseat of a truck,

or scared in the back of his van.

I imagined him in the corner of the

crowded shelter, shoulders hunched,

eyes darting, trying to sleep.

And zipped inside a damp tent,

pitched beneath trees that

offered no comfort, only cover.

And holed up in a cheap hotel,

where the TV hums in the background

but can’t drown out the storm of

thoughts that rumble like thunder,

crashing one over the next,

memories and regrets colliding.

And crouched behind bushes,

praying not to be seen or woken.

And curled up behind surfboards,

just to steal a moment of rest,

while the world moved on, unaware

of his hidden suffering.

Nine months feels like a lifetime

when my arms are empty, but

I would rather miss him here

than lose him out there to the

quiet drowning in the fast

undertow of addiction.

Radical Faith

Radical Faith 

By Annette Camp 

February 6, 2025

My faith is not just

about inner peace, 

but also about actively 

working to dismantle 

oppression and uplift 

marginalized voices. 

I have a responsibility 

to challenge injustice, 

advocate for the 

vulnerable and 

annihilate systems 

that harm people. 

My faith is lived out in 

action, not just emotion. 

I will provide comfort 

to the weary while 

confronting the systems 

that create suffering.

My faith is one that 

not only creates 

systems of caring, 

belonging and equity, 

but opposes injustice. 

My faith balances 

love and justice.

It heals and disrupts.

Builds and resists. 

Nurtures and challenges.

My faith is both 

constructive 

and disruptive.

My faith is both 

gentle and fierce.

Facing Fear, Finding Strength

Facing Fear, Finding Strength

By Annette Camp

January 22, 2025

Make the decision to try despite fear,

to face the unknown with trembling hands.

Choose action over the pull of hesitation,

even when your heart races and doubt lingers.

For each small step, each commitment to show up

becomes a thread woven in the fabric of courage.

Confidence strengthens with each brave step.

A reminder that fear doesn’t get the final say.

In the quiet moments of persistence,

you discover things hidden deep within.

Every choice to move forward builds a foundation,

turning uncertainty into newfound strength.

The unknown becomes less daunting with time,

as courage grows in the space of effort.

Each act of trying transforms not just the outcome,

but the belief in who you are becoming.

Sacred Doors

Sacred Doors

By Annette Camp

January 12, 2025

Boundaries are not walls.

They are doors,

opened with care.

They invite others in 

who see us, and honor us

for exactly who we are.

Love in its truest form.

A promise to ourselves.

A quiet teaching to others.

This is how I need to be 

treated, respected, and loved.

Yes, some will walk away.

Let them.

No more sacrificing ourselves.

No more giving from emptiness.

No more bending so far, we break.

No more yes when our gut says no.

Boundaries are not selfish.

They are sacred.

The Real Gift Was Their Friendship

The Real Gift Was Their Friendship

By Annette Camp

December 25, 2024

A small tree stood quietly in the corner,

its white lights casting a soft glow.

Green, red, and silver ornaments hung carefully.

Each one reflecting the stillness of Christmas Eve.

A friend had placed it there,

and quiet magic settled over its branches.

Crisp bills, green paper, tucked among the needles,

hung as the ornaments gleamed.

A quiet transformation of a tradition shared.

The little tree stood alive with abundance,

its branches with an offering.

A moment of gratitude for a friendship.

The tree had become more than decoration.

It was a symbol—a reminder of generosity,

of surprise and quiet miracles found in ordinary places.

Though money hung from its branches,

the real gift was the way it made me feel:

connected, amazed, and deeply aware of the moment.