Tag Archives: despair

Falling

Posted on January 2, 2014 by russtowne

My mind often flows in mysterious ways. I’m in Illinois visiting family. Snow fell last night. Outside my window is a beautiful white vista. My grandtwins are making delightful experimental sounds with their mouths in the background. One crawled for … Continue reading →

Posted in Adversity, Challenges, Dealing with Pain & Grief, Friendship, Gratitude, Healing | Tagged Anger, compassion, daughter, despair, desperation, frindship, Grief, Illinois, illness, kindness, Love, man, men, parenting, poison, power, strength, wretch | 21 Comments

No Star In All the Heavens

Posted on December 18, 2013 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 Abundance, Adversity, Beauty, Challenges, Children, Creativity, Dreams, Family, Family "Fun", Gifts, Goodness, Gratitude, Illness, Ingenuity, Kindness, Loss, My Written Works Misc., Non-fiction Stories I've Written, Non-Fiction Writing I've Done, Pain & Grief, Parenting, Photos I Took, Strength, True Stories I've Written, Writing, Youth | Tagged adversity, beach, challenges, chemotherapy, children, Christmas tree, compassion, daughter, despair, Dog, dreams, Family, friends, Friendship, gift, gifts, heavens, illness, intenive care, joy, kindnes, Love, pain, palm tree, poor, sadness, star | 18 Comments

Greater Than Gold

Posted on April 28, 2013 by russtowne

The seed of this piece came to me as I read a comment from Diana earlier today describing a most kind and generous act indeed. Diana, this poem is dedicated to your kind daughter and her wonderful mother for whom … Continue reading →

Posted in Compassion, Kindness, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Poetry I Wrote, Uncategorized, Youth | Tagged compassion, despair, Grief, hard life, kindness, love in action, pain, poem, poetry, sad, sad eyes, suffering, youth | 16 Comments

“He Believed In Me”

Posted on March 26, 2013 by russtowne

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=547862351901352 Every once in a while a video comes along that is so powerful that I get the chills watching it. This is one of those videos. No one believed in him. Not even himself. His situation was hopeless. Or … Continue reading →

Posted in Adversity, Attittude, Breakthroughs, Challenges, Choices, Commitment, Courage, Healing, Health, Hope, Optimism, Patience & Persistence, Strength, Vids & Stories That Touched Me | Tagged belife, despair, failure, he believed in me, Hope, overcoming obstacles, Success, video | 11 Comments

Some Gifts I’d Love to Return

Posted on July 12, 2012 by russtowne

My last post where I said tough times are “lesson-rich” may have come across as glib. It wasn’t meant to be. While I believe challenging times are indeed lesson-rich and hold gifts for us, there are quite frankly some gifts … Continue reading →

Posted in Challenges, Dealing with Pain & Grief, LIfe Lessons, Observations, Pain & Grief | Tagged beloved, blood, blood transfusions, cancer, challenging times, daughter, despair, diagnosed, difficulty, gifts, Grief, happy, hospital, incurable illness, intensive care, lesson-rich, Life, pain, scare, survived, thyroid | 9 Comments

Tears

Posted on March 3, 2012 by russtowne

This post is dedicated to all who are in pain, feeling alone, broken-hearted, and/or grieving–or have been. In other words this is dedicated to everyone. Part of being alive is experiencing pain. For many people, pain can lead to tears, … Continue reading →