Your piece reminded me of my Dad’s stories of his life before marriage. It also reminded me that I have a very large container of little black books in which he collected quotes and thoughts that informed his thinking and guided his living. Twain was often cited.

A number of years ago, I created a database and started keying in his collected thoughts. Inspired by your sharing, I am going to pull out one of those notebooks and continue this project. My plan was and still is to pass a database of my father’s truths on to his grandchildren and great grandchildren.