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Thank God for my mother, my mentor, and my friend.

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Inspiration

By Charles Towne

My mother was a great example of healthy optimism. Her courageous spirit, based on her faith, and belief in a loving God, kept her wrapped in a warm garment of love during her sojourn on this earth. Did she have an easy life? Not hardly, and rarely did positive, healthy people surround her, but she was for the most part happy and positive. Boy, do I ever miss her smile.

While others were grumping and criticizing, and creating mischief, she was writing or quoting poetry or delving into her favorite book, the Bible.

I especially like this little tidbit that mama left with me: “Be nice, think good thoughts, and don’t put stinky stuff in your mouth.”

(When she referred to stinky stuff she was speaking of gossip.)

For years there were those poor deluded souls, some of them very close to her, people that should have known better, people that felt their sole purpose in life was to diminish her. She knew what they were doing. Was she angry? No. Did she retaliate? Not one whit. Instead, she prayed for them and heaped coals of fire on their heads by loving them.

Let it be said of us that we shared the joy and not misery.

Let us bring peace, mercy, and love to all around us.

Mama never owned a thing in her life that if she thought you needed it she wouldn’t have given it to you, consequently, she didn’t own much but what she possessed, God values. She was rich.

She said, and I love this one “I tasted life and found it delicious.”

(When was the last time you tasted life and found it to be delicious?)

I like what Friedrich Nietzsche said: “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

My mother could always hear the music.

Following is one of mama’s poems:

Twin Sisters

By

Ruth Florence Ovitt Towne

Duty, stern duty, has a twin sister called kindness:

Duty meets kindness face to face,

And as each contemplates the other there takes place

A pattern of benevolence which will ultimately free,

The ones who find these graces from thankless drudgery.

The drudgery of a task late started, late completed,

The drudgery of no thanks for what you’ve done,

The drudgery of no friends because you’ve made none,

The drudgery of no place under the sun.

The drudgery of a heart forever empty,

The drudgery of hands idle and forlorn,

The drudgery of a hearth where love has vanished,

The drudgery of no roses, just a thorn.

But duty calls, and kindness smiles

As hand in hand they skip across life’s miles;

No drudgery here, consecration takes it place,

Kindness devoted to duty, the ultimate in grace.

I love you mama, your Huckleberry friend.


Charles Towne is first and foremost a Christian. An octogenarian, author, journalist, wildlife photographer, naturalist, caregiver, and survivor, his life has been and continues to be, a never-ending adventure filled with possibilities never imagined. He has adopted the philosophy that to Live fully, laugh uproariously, love passionately, and learn like there is no tomorrow, is a formula for a long and joy-filled life.

Charles Towne, Inspiration

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