About russtowne
I'm awed by the beauty of nature and the power of love and gratitude. Some of my favorite sensory experiences include waves crashing on rocky shores, waterways in ancient redwood and fern-filled forests, and rain. My wife and I have been married since 1979. We have 3 adult children and 5 grandchildren. I manage a wealth management firm that I founded in 2003. My Beloved is a Special Education teacher for Kindergartners and First Graders. I'm a published author of approximately 60 books in a variety of genres for grownups and children.
“The word LISTEN contains the same letters as the word SILENT.” – Alfred Brendel I saw this quote on a friend’s Facebook post. It made me think. I think I’ll be quiet now. ;-D!
About six years ago our young teenage daughter was stricken with an “incurable” disease and nearly died. She spent about a month in the hospital, much of it intensive care fighting for her life. She had to deal with an … Continue reading →
Posted in Creativity, Friendship, Generosity, Gratitude, Healing, Humor, Inspiring, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Parenting, True Stories I've Written
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Tagged alive, beach, bonfire, chemotherapy, cried, cry, dark, darkness, daughter, disease, Dog, Friend, friends, hospital, ICU, incurable, intensive care, little dog, Love, night, party, sand, sand water, sign, steroids, sunset, the beach built by love, the beach that love built, Tiki torch, Tiki torches, well
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It was the middle of the night on one of those long and lonely stretches of Interstate 5 between distant small farming communities. My mom and her girlfriend were taking me and 4 of their other children to Disneyland. All … Continue reading →
Posted in Courage, Generosity, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Praise, True Stories I've Written
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Tagged 18-wheeler, 18-wheelers, big beast, blaring, blaring horns, brains, bucking wildly, careened, Caring, children, dazed, Disneyland, eighteen-wheelers, eightenn-wheeler, end-over-end, facing the wrong way, families, Family, fast-motion, flat tires, flats, flipped, freeway, glaring lights, gyrating, headlights, headlights coming at us, help, horns, Interestate 5, kids, kind, kindness, mechanic, mom, Mother, mothers, never-ending, nightmare, on-coming lights, on-coming trucks, oncoming traffic, shockwave, shop, siblings, spinning, straddling both lanes, SUV, terror, Travel-All, trembling nerves, truck, trucker, trucks, wrong way on the freeway, zig-zag, zig-zagging
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“No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.” -Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor, author, neurologist and psychiatrist. (Seen in Wordsmith.org’s A.Word.A.Day by Anu Garg) I’d update … Continue reading →
Posted in Forgiveness, Generosity, Healing, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Parenting, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts, Uncategorized
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Tagged A.Word.A.Day, absolute honesty, Anger, Anu Garg, children, day they're having, drive, driving, empathy, forgive, good, good surprises, holocaust, Holocaust survivor, honesty, kids, Life, life they've led, mad, parent, parenting, self-empathy, traffic, Victor Frankl, wordsmith.org, wordsmith.org's
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Some years ago I was standing in a long, long line at a major theme park in southern California (yeah, the one with the ears). I was bored, hot, and tired. I stuck a hand in my pocket and noticed … Continue reading →
Posted in Creativity, Humor, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Random Thoughts, True Stories I've Written, Uncategorized
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Tagged child, children, coins, Disneyland, ears, excitedly exclaimed, exclaim, grinnd, joy, our little secret, parents, pocket change, rin, secret, shoe, shoes, smile, smiles, standing in line, whispered, wife, young children, youngster
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When I was in the hospital recovering from lung surgery many years ago, a friend gave a teddy bear to me. He knew that I’d long outgrown such gifts, but seeing how miserable, drugged-up and helpless I was, he decided … Continue reading →
Posted in Friendship, Generosity, Grandparenting & Grandkids, Gratitude, Healing, Random Thoughts, True Stories I've Written
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Tagged bear, child, children, comfort, comforted, Family, Friend, grandchild, hospital, ill, ilness, kindness, Love, lung surgery, Rin Tin Tin, Rusty, stuffed animal, teddy bear
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I recently saw a vid that was called “The Power of Words”. It began by showing a grizzled old blind man sitting on a sidewalk on a busy city street with lots of pedestrians walking by. In front of him … Continue reading →
Posted in Creativity, Generosity, Inspiring, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Vids & Stories That Touched Me
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Tagged blind, blind man, cardboard sign, cut-out cardboard sign, hand-written, kindness, Love, power, sat, shoes, sidewalk, the power of love, The Power of Words, woman, words
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“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” –Maria Robinson I saw the above quote from an email from The Wendling Group. In one respect I agree with the … Continue reading →
Posted in Forgiveness, Generosity, Healing, LIfe Lessons, Optimism, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts
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Tagged abandoned, abandonment, abandonment issues, beginning, beginnings, biological father, ending, endings, Family, friends, Grief, guilt, loneliness, new beginning, new ending, pain, Relationships, siblings, suffering, The Wendling Group. Maria Robinson
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I was just reflecting that many people say they feel old when they become a grandparent, but I’m feeling young again. This will be the fifth time that I’ll get to experience and explore life through the eyes of a … Continue reading →
Posted in Family "Fun", Grandparenting & Grandkids, Gratitude, Inspiring
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Tagged child, eyes, eyes of a child, grandchild, grandfather, Grandpa, Grandson, kid, leaf, looking at life through the eyes of a child, playground, puddle, rain drop, raindrop, rock, walk, walks
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I just read an amazing and heart-warming story of four people–two men and two women; mostly strangers–they had to quickly trust each other at a critical and terrifying moment to save the life of someone they didn’t know. They took … Continue reading →
Posted in Courage, Inspiring, Making the World a Better Place, Vids & Stories That Touched Me
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Tagged black, Heroes, Heroes of Humanity, Los Angeles, race, Reginald Denny, truck driver, white, Yahoo News, Yahoonews
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Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 