Category Archives: True Stories I’ve Written

True short stories

No Star In All The Heavens

Posted on December 5, 2012 by russtowne

The story of the star that sits atop our tree goes back over thirty years. I was a young single man whose business was failing. Finances were very tight. I had enough money to buy a Christmas tree but not … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Family "Fun", Gratitude, Love, Marriage, Spirit, True Stories I've Written | Tagged business, business failing, Christmas, Christmas tree, girlfriend, good times, heavens, rough times, star, wife | 4 Comments

The Goofiest Christmas Tree and Beach You Ever Saw

Posted on December 5, 2012 by russtowne

A Most Unusual Christmas Tree Visitors who come to our home near the holidays are often struck by the sight of a most unusual Christmas tree. Instead of a fir or some other traditional kind, we have a palm tree. … Continue reading →

Posted in Acceptance, Challenges, Children, Choices, Creativity, Dealing with Pain & Grief, Dreams, Family "Fun", Generosity, Inspiring, Pain & Grief, Parenting, True Stories I've Written | Tagged beach, beach incurable, bonfire, built, Crhristmas tree, disease, friends, fun, palm tree, sand, splashing, star, unusual | 6 Comments

That Was You?

Posted on December 3, 2012 by russtowne

Most readers of this blog know that I tend to write in tangents. Ideas tend to come to me bunched together or in thought strings and rather than fight it, I take the easy/lazy way out and write a flurry … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Love, True Stories I've Written | Tagged adopt, adopting, adoption, biological, bleak, choices, Date, Dates, first, foreign, international, lemonade, locker, lockers, Love, short skirt, Travel-All | 15 Comments

When a Moment and a Lifetime Merge

Posted on December 3, 2012 by russtowne

When I was recently married and still in my early twenties, I met a woman at work who looked to me to be in her fifties and who told me a most amazing story. She’d stopped at a traffic light … Continue reading →

Posted in Love, True Stories I've Written | Tagged instant, lifetime, Love, merge, moment, traffic light, woman | 8 Comments

A Goofy Encounter

Posted on November 29, 2012 by russtowne

When My Beloved and I were married, she had a little Honda Civic that was not much bigger than a basketball and a personalized license plate that read, “I GOOFY”. As it turns out, a 100-minute one-way commute caused us … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, True Stories I've Written | Tagged basketball, chance encounter, crazy, face, goofiness, goofy, Honda Civic, memory, moment, smile, thumbs-up | 20 Comments

A Surprise That Got Me In Hot Water With My Beloved

Posted on November 15, 2012 by russtowne

My recent “Holiday Humor” post received a bunch of comments, and below was my reply to one of the comments. I thought more of you would appreciate reading it than would see it in the comments section, so I decided … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Marriage, True Stories I've Written | Tagged bow, car, Champagne, Friend, husband, jewlry, late, marriage, necklace, night, ribbon, steaming, surprise, teddy bear, wife | 8 Comments

Water Fight!

Posted on November 9, 2012 by russtowne

(A revised re-post for newer readers to this site.) Some of my favorite moments in life have occurred on a whim. For example: Water fights between my Beloved and me. In the bathroom. They would often start innocently enough such … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Marriage, True Stories I've Written | Tagged bathroom, beloved, children, door, fight, fun, kids, laughter, mature, Mother, shower, sink, spontaniety, truce, water, water fight, water-clogged, wife | 20 Comments

Courage Comes In All Sizes

Posted on October 31, 2012 by russtowne

This is a true story. Because it happened about 20 years ago it is likely that some of the “facts” that I seem to recall have likely been blurred by the mists of time. Any inaccuracies are unintentional. I came … Continue reading →

Posted in Choices, Courage, Family "Fun", Parenting, True Stories I've Written, Uncategorized | Tagged accident, armore car, children, courage, dinner, gasoline pouring onto streen, guard, gund, reward, roses, sizes, young mother | 29 Comments

Too Stubborn and Selfish

Posted on October 25, 2012 by russtowne

Some of my best posts happened quite awhile ago, so I occasionally re-post something to share with newer readers that I hope won’t bore more-tenured readers too much. This is one of those times. Earlier this month my Beloved and … Continue reading →

Posted in Love, Marriage, True Stories I've Written | Tagged 33rd anniversary, anniversary, beloved, Love, marriage, married, officiate, stubborn selfish, wedding, wife | 9 Comments

Endeavor

Posted on September 21, 2012 by russtowne

I just saw the space shuttle Endeavor being flown over Silicon Valley headed south from what used to be called Moffett Field. It was a great moment for me. I remember the beautiful posters my then-young boys had hanging in … Continue reading →