Tag: life (Page 2 of 4)

Brad and Callie hugging under Reclaimed Stage lights

Chapter 34 (The Reality)

July 16, 2025 / Callie Page / 0 Comments

Boy oh boy there’s nothing better than making all our failures public. I’m not sure why God is leading me to write all of this, but He is, and I’m not going to stop listening now. Let’s talk about money…

As you know, Brad and I have several businesses. I’ve talked about each of them. What I haven’t told you is that we haven’t made a profit from any of those businesses since their inception. That’s not a lie. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

(EDITED: This was written about 8 months before it was posted so I have a update…we have written ourselves our first paycheck!! 🙂

Now, most of you don’t believe me because 1) How do you survive with 6 children and no money and 2) Why in the heck would anyone subject themselves to businesses that create zero income for over 6 years? We ask ourselves those same questions every single month when we are trying to make ends meet.

To answer the first question, we have had A LOT of divine intervention keeping us afloat. Our businesses generate just enough money to keep themselves going and not a penny more. Sounds glamorous right? It’s just about as glamorous as you might imagine.

It’s tough. However, with the gracious help of our parents, credit cards, loans, banks, and Perfect timing from God, we make it through.

Now, WHY WOULD A PERSON DO THIS? — I’ll tell you.

I know it sounds corny but, we are pulled to. We can’t stop even if we wanted to. Our souls are connected to growing this brand and these businesses. We aren’t sure why yet, and we don’t know if we will ever be given an answer but God has made it very, very clear that we aren’t supposed to stop.

Every time we try to stop, something or someone comes out of nowhere offering to help us make it through. We tried to ignore that at first. We tried to measure our lives against societal standards. We tried to tell ourselves, “no one would blame us for throwing in the towel. No one else would keep trying in this situation,” but there continues to be this unseen force keeping us moving forward.

We promised ourselves, and each other, a long time ago that the work we chose to do in this world didn’t just pay our bills. (not that we would turn down a profit! ) We promised to make our work purposeful. We wanted to know that even if the money didn’t come, we were pursuing something that filled us up inside. I know it sounds naive and maybe even kind of stupid, but it’s what we always prayed for. We’ve gotten exactly what we need; just not necessarily how we wanted it to happen.

I tell you all of this not because I think it’s noble or to make you feel bad for us, I tell you only because it is a BIG part of our story. The experience of owning these businesses and trying to make this whole thing work, has created us just exactly as we are. It explains us. It explains our choices. It explains why we’ve shown up in the world in the ways that we have.

Good, bad, or crazy, this is just us.

Brad and Callie smiling lovingly and Claire trolling in the background

Chapter 33 (The Process)

July 9, 2025 / Callie Page / 0 Comments

I have to tell you the story about how the Book & Bean came to be because it explains Brad and I in a nutshell. For everyone reading this that know Brad and I personally, you’ll laugh at this story, shake your head, and say, “Yep. Sounds like the Pages.”

Brad had mentioned to me that he thought it was time to start another business. I agreed and told him that I had been thinking the same thing. We loved the idea of a vintage book store, but we knew financially that wouldn’t work. It’s not a feasible option on its own, at least not in our little town. The idea of specialty coffee and books was thrown around and we settled on a coffeeshop with a strong presence of vintage books.

To be clear here…this was ONE conversation, in the car, on the way to a function.

The next day I took the kids to my parents house in Illinois and Brad stayed home to work. He texted me:

Brad – Hey Cal. Were you serious about the coffee shop and bookstore?

Me -Yeah. I think that has great potential. We could probably start looking into it.

Brad – Ok great because I just bought 600 vintage books online. We are supposed to pick them up tomorrow.

Yep. That’s exactly what happened. No need for market research or numbers, we were all in. I look back on that now and laugh because we had LESS than no idea what we were doing. We knew nothing about vintage books OR coffee. Heck, Brad didn’t even drink coffee! All I knew about coffee was that when you mixed Folgers with Coffeemate, it tasted alright.

This is how we’ve operated since my nephew passed away 12 years ago. For some reason, we just assume that it’ll work out. Even if we take a hit, ultimately, it’ll be worth a try. And honestly, as long as the businesses I create make people feel warm and fuzzy inside, then I don’t really care what we are selling. I knew we could find someone who knew coffee, and we did. Opening a coffee shop didn’t mean we had to be coffee experts, it just meant we had to find someone who was.

I think maybe this is true in most facets of life. If I have a clear vision for what I want to create in the end result, then all other things are “figureoutable”. Nothing has to be so intimidating that I need to keep it from existing just because I don’t know all the steps in the process. Shoot, if I operated by that principle, I wouldn’t be a wife, a mother, or a friend and those are some of my most cherished roles I hold in this life. To think that I might not have any of those things because I didn’t have it all figured out before I ventured into them, is the saddest thing I can think of.

What I’m slowly figuring out is that none of this is about me anyway. So what if I screw up? So what if I don’t do it right? That actually never mattered anyway.

But the process…oh the process, now THAT matters. It leads us to exactly where we need to be, and causes us to really LIVE throughout the learning.

Chapter 31 (The Businesses)

June 25, 2025 / Callie Page / 0 Comments

Business. I LOVE business and entrepreneurship. For as long as I can remember, I’ve liked to do things in my own way and with my own vision. Like I’ve said before in this blog, that can be a good thing, but it can also be a cross to bear.

Our businesses and our entrepreneurial journey is a big part of my story. There are so many experiences that I couldn’t have had without the presence of a business. Moreover, those experiences were definitely ones meant specifically for me. I’m learning there is no such thing as a coincidence.

When we first started our Reclaimed business, we were looking for a building that housed a feeling and a vibration of the brand we were going to build. We looked at several buildings around town and liked a few of them, but then we drove by an old church that looked like it hadn’t been used in several years. The property wasn’t for sale, but our hearts had already purchased it.

There was just something about this little old white church that spoke to us. It was no bigger than a one room schoolhouse and when we looked through the original arched windows we were surprised to see that the church looked like it had been used one Sunday, and unoccupied the next. There were still bulletins on the pews. We had found out a few months later that was, in fact, the story.

For 3 years that little church sat empty, and the church board had been disassembled. Members were scattered all over the country. It took some researching and conversation with local ex-members to find out that there was, in fact, a lady to contact about the property.

After telling her our story, meeting with the bank, and organizing a celebration day for the past members, Brad and I were the proud new owners of a building that had been a church for over 100 years.

We took our families by to see the property and I think they were concerned that we had lost our minds. To be fair, they were seeing it at the worst of times. The east wall had fallen off the foundation, the windows were not airtight, the ceiling was drooping, and the walls had started to tilt. The church “foundation” was four large flat stones that were probably put there 150 years before. It needed a little TLC.

But for Brad and I, we couldn’t see anything other than our dreams unfolding. That church building represented everything we wanted to be in the world – a place of hope and meaning. Those four walls saw so much turmoil, pain, human connection and love over the years. We knew that history made this the place we wanted to house our Reclaimed business. Reclaimed to us, meant tearing down old barns and building beautiful new pieces of furniture, but it also meant that nothing and no one was worth discarding. Even those old barns that seemingly had no use anymore, could be turned into something more. It fit our brand perfectly. Everything and everyone had a place in this world. We knew, from the very beginning concept, that Reclaimed meant all of that and more.

What we didn’t know is that little church would ultimately, Reclaim, us.

Chapter 30 (Easton)

June 18, 2025 / Callie Page / 0 Comments

My most painful experience in this lifetime has been the loss of my nephew, Easton. Easton was a beautiful, wonderful child. He became sick at the age of 11 months and fought a genetic disease for the next year and a half. He was a sweet, tough, amazing little boy with eyes bluer than the sky itself.

He loved frogs, and if you’ve seen my frog tattoo, I may have told you the story behind it. (if you haven’t heard the story, ask me about it the next time you see me.)

We were connected, him and I, in this world and in the next. Sometimes when I think about the relationship that we had while he was here, it breaks me that I didn’t hold him more. It makes me terribly heartbroken that I won’t get a chance to be an aunt to him any longer on this side of heaven.

However, my relationship with Easton grew in its intensity after he left us. I remember my first dream about him like it was yesterday. His face and the way he hugged me will be burned into my heart forever.

Easton also inspired me to write. His first push was a poem. Things grew from there, and ultimately he led me to write this blog, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain my experience with loving him and losing him.

When I first realized that Easton wasn’t going to get better, and that we were going to lose him, I was pissed. Excuse my language, but there isn’t a better word for it.

I remember being in the hospital with family all around. I remember the crying and the comforting. I remember the hushed voices and the process of letting go, but I had none of that in me. I was just so mad.

My anger stemmed from a few places. I couldn’t understand, at all, why a child would ever be subjected to going through the pain and turmoil he’d been through. I was mad that my life was, in that very moment, changing forever. (I had no idea how much, but I could feel it just the same.) I was angry that my sister had to be torn to pieces and that her heart would never be able to be the same. I was angry that my kids and nieces and nephew had to lose the sense of innocence that comes with being a child. I was pissed they had to lose a life with Easton.

I was mad that my heart was broken and that, I too, had to lose a life with my sweet and precious nephew.

The next 12 years would be a process of letting him go, and a process of learning a new way to “be” with him. In the beginning I felt a fog around life. I didn’t process much for about 6 months. The first time I had a dream about him, I was eviscerated. The 2nd, 3rd, and 20th times my evisceration lessened and my aching for more of those moments grew.

12 years later, my ability to “see” him in my day to day is ever present. He is everywhere I am and his love is something I can feel every time my husband and I take a step closer to our dreams.

Easton pushed Brad and I to a life of stepping outside of our comfort zone. His life, and his death, showed us that this life is precious, but the next one is even more so. Anything that we do here in this life, pales in comparison to what we get to witness and be a part of in the next.

God made Brad and I Easton’s family for a very specific reason. Easton had a story to tell, and we were blessed enough to be able to listen up close. God knew that little curly headed, blue eyed boy would capture our hearts like no one else could, and He allowed us to be a part of Easton’s story.

We keep his spirit alive within us each time we ignore our fear and embrace our faith.

Chapter 29 (The Speech)

June 11, 2025 / Callie Page / 0 Comments

A big part of my story is failure. I’ve failed more times than I can count, but I’m going to tell you about one of them specifically. Now, I want you to know that I don’t want to tell you this story because it’s embarrassing for me. However, it’s a part of my story and it has created, in me, a different way of looking at things. I would say that it’s definitely a defining moment in my life’s trajectory.

One of my biggest dreams in this life is to be a speaker. I love words. I’ve always loved words, and I’ve always loved speaking love and acceptance into people’s lives. I have always been very passionate about telling people their strengths. I promise these are not things I make up, these are genuine characteristics that I pick up from individuals and society as a whole. I’ve always had this burning desire to tell people that I notice them, and that I appreciate them for the cool things I see humans do.

Call me weird, it’s fine. I know that I am. But this characteristic about myself has been one of the most important things to me for as long as I can remember. In fact, there’s not a trait about my personality that I connect more with.

Now to the failure. I was asked to be the guest speaker at my high school graduation about 15 years after my own graduation. I was ecstatic. (Don’t be too impressed here…I went to a VERY small high school- there weren’t many people to choose from.) I had a million things to talk about but I knew it could only be a 5-6 minute speech so I had to narrow down my field of discussion. I went to bed countless nights thinking about what I was going to focus on.

I came up with 4 or 5 different speeches. I typed them all out, and read over them carefully. I made the decision that I would have them all prepared and speak on the one that made the most sense to address on that particular day. I went into the graduation with all of them in my head. I had no notes, and no written speeches with me because I had decided that I knew the material well and I didn’t want to sound disingenuous. I didn’t want to read, I wanted to speak from the heart. My intentions were good.

I had forgotten that even though my high school graduated no more than 40-50 kids each year, the graduations were unnecessarily long. I’m talking 2.5-3 hours. It was crazy. Everyone and their dog gave a speech! By the time it was my turn to go, it had already been an hour and none of the graduates had even gotten their diplomas yet! I looked out into the audience and I noticed an older lady, maybe a grandma, trying to calm a 3 year old who’d already been sitting too long. I noticed the audience, fanning every face in the crowd and the look of “let’s get this over with” on each person’s face.

My mind went blank.

I remembered nothing about what I wanted to talk about AND I had no notes. Oops. I remember mumbling something about choosing your own path and not the path that those around you want you to choose, but the speech only lasted a couple minutes and it was horrible in its delivery.

I was mortified.

I hurried off the podium, and sat with a reeling mind for the next hour and half until the ceremony ended. Not only was I embarrassed in front of my hometown, but my family also went so that added disappointment for me. I was proud of the material I had prepared and I told them that before the whole thing happened, but they didn’t get to see the good stuff. I had really screwed up, but mainly I was upset with myself. I let myself down.

I made a promise that I would never again allow myself to do less than the very best I could do. That meant, notes, preparation for all circumstances, and a commitment to my standards no matter what I read on the face of the crowd. I would deliver my very best no matter what. I never wanted to leave another function wondering if I could have done better. I promised myself that I wouldn’t be intimidated by what was going on around me, but rather be the best version of me that I could be.

That mentality stays with me. Even though I was (and still am) super embarrassed by my performance, I learned an extremely valuable lesson. I needed that experience. I needed that grit to get through the life I would choose just a few short years later as an entrepreneur.

God’s plan was perfect. I should stop being surprised by that.