Category Archives: True Stories I’ve Written

True short stories

Too Stubborn and Selfish

Posted on June 6, 2012 by russtowne

On the way home from our at-least-weekly Date Night this evening, I flashed back to the comments a good man said to my then-fiance’ and me 34 years ago, when we were about 20 years old. We’d asked him to … Continue reading →

Posted in LIfe Lessons, Observations, Optimism, Random Thoughts, Relationship Lessons Learned, True Stories I've Written | Tagged Date, date night, Love, marriage, wedding, wife | 6 Comments

Bliss In A Great Big Bundle Of Brown Fur

Posted on June 3, 2012 by russtowne

I experienced sheer bliss again last night. As is often the case, I was with Duke, a six-year old Chocolate Lab and constant companion. It started out as a simple trip to the grocery store to buy my wife a … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Dogs & Other Wonderful Creatures, Gratitude, Humor, Random Thoughts, True Stories I've Written | Tagged big ears, big ears flapping wildly, blessed, bliss, car, connection, Dog, Duke, Happiness, joy, people, smile, smiles | 1 Comment

Morning Reflections

Posted on May 24, 2012 by russtowne

There was a time many years ago when I woke up exhausted every week day, crawled out of bed at about 5:30am and faced a daunting and life-sucking 1 hour and 40 minute 1-way commute to work, doing a job … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Courage, Creativity, Dogs & Other Wonderful Creatures, Education, Family "Fun", Friendship, Generosity, Gratitude, Growth/Learning, LIfe Lessons, Observations, Optimism, Random Thoughts, True Stories I've Written | Tagged blessed, Career, child, children, Chocolate Lab, commute, Dog, dream, dreams, Duke, Family, fern, ferns, friends, garden, grateful, gratitude, grove, home, house, job, kids, morning, morning reflections, profession, redwood, redwoods, support network, wife, window | 5 Comments

What I Learned from My Son and Dandelions

Posted on May 13, 2012 by russtowne

When our middle son was a young teenager, one of his chores was to mow the lawns. One day as I walked into the house after work I noticed that the front yard had dandelion stems in it that were … Continue reading →

Posted in Growth/Learning, LIfe Lessons, Observations, Parenting, Relationship Lessons Learned, True Stories I've Written, Uncategorized | Tagged angry, ask my heart, ask my heart for a second opinion, chores, consequence, consequences, dandelions, heart, house, lawn, learned, lesson, lesson learned, lie, lying, middle son, mow, promise, promised, puff balls, son, swore, Trust, trusting, truth, Work, yard work | 1 Comment

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

How a Daunting Gauntlet Became a Fun Zone

Posted on May 2, 2012 by russtowne

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 | 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 | Leave a 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 Day Girls Saved Me

Posted on April 9, 2012 by russtowne

Many years ago I was in a high school Marine Corps JROTC program as the Vietnam War was coming to an end. It was not a real popular time to be in uniform. It was a turbulent time. One of … Continue reading →