Category Archives: Generosity

My Recipe For Life

Posted on May 11, 2012 by russtowne

I believe that most people feel that life is very complex and complicated. That is understandable. There is so much information, regulation, conflicting needs and priorities, entities telling and selling what we need and should do, partisanship and rancor, choices, … Continue reading →

Posted in Forgiveness, Friendship, Generosity, Gratitude, Growth/Learning, Inspiring, LIfe Lessons, Praise, Random Thoughts, Relationship Lessons Learned | Tagged attention, care, Caring, coach, comfort, confidence, contentment, energy, friends, fulfillment, grateful, gratitude, grow, guide, Happiness, Inner Peace, joy, keeping it simple, kindness, learn, Life, Love, passion, peace, people, recipe, recipe for life, share, shine, simplicity, slow learner, support, teach, time, truly matter, Zen | 3 Comments

I Believe

Posted on May 8, 2012 by russtowne

‘Any time not invested with love is wasted.’ I don’t know who originally coined that phrase but the older I get the more I believe it to be true. Life is short and getting shorter, so I’m focused on making … Continue reading →

Posted in Generosity, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts | Tagged action, adventure, enrich, focus, getting better, invest, invested, Life, Love, practice, quest, thought, time, word | 2 Comments

A Knock On the Door

Posted on May 5, 2012 by russtowne

About nine years ago our 25th wedding anniversary was coming soon and I wanted to honor my wife and celebrate our anniversary in a special way. What I had in mind was to have some men help me to surprise … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Generosity, Gratitude, True Stories I've Written | Tagged "My Girl", a knock on the door, anniversary, audience, celebrate, cheek, clapped, cool, dance routine, dinner, door, families, gift, groovy, honnor, hug, hugged, kind, kindness, kiss, kissed, knock, long-stemmed red roses, memorable, men, Motown, neighbors, pleased, roses, special, special gift, special wife, special womean, surprised, Temptations, wife | 3 Comments

The Beach That Love Built

Posted on May 4, 2012 by russtowne

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 | 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 | 2 Comments

Terror and Kindness on Interstate 5

Posted on May 2, 2012 by russtowne

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 | 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 | Leave a comment

Have I Ever Done That or Would I Do the Same?

Posted on May 2, 2012 by russtowne

“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 | 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 | 1 Comment

Rusty

Posted on May 1, 2012 by russtowne

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 | Tagged bear, child, children, comfort, comforted, Family, Friend, grandchild, hospital, ill, ilness, kindness, Love, lung surgery, Rin Tin Tin, Rusty, stuffed animal, teddy bear | Leave a comment

The Power of Love

Posted on May 1, 2012 by russtowne

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 | 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 | Leave a comment

Making A New Ending and Taking Another Look at Our Beginning

Posted on April 29, 2012 by russtowne

“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 | 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 | 2 Comments

Will Love for Food

Posted on April 21, 2012 by russtowne

I recently saw a photo of a large dog with with friendly but sad old eyes, and much white on its face. It wore a sign made of cutout cardboard which was hanging from its neck. The message on it … Continue reading →