Steven Skelley

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 38 Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! You Think You Have Time by Steven Skelley

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 37 Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! When I Look At A Tree by Steven Skelley

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 36 Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! Enjoy my video of Treasures Of Yesteryear by Steven Skelley

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 35 Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! Why I Celebrate LGBTQ Pride by Steven Skelley I can trace my maternal family line back to 1720 when Abraham McWilliams was born. He sailed to the New World, settled in Pennsylvania and his son Samuel fought in the Lancaster County Militia for American freedom. I am proud of that history. Just as I have a place in the history of my genealogical family, I am also a part of another family. I have a place in the history of the homosexual family. Unfortunately, unlike my genealogical history that can be easily traced, the accomplishments of my homosexual brothers and sisters have been erased. Cave drawings and art from the Mesolithic period in on Sicily, Bethlehem, Zimbabwe, Czech Republic, Egypt and more depict LGBTQ members of society. Millions of people throughout human history have been born like me. Some societies valued my family. Most societies shunned, imprisoned, castrated, tort

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, make the most of every minute because we never know how many we have left. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS   Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, love is more than a sweet feeling. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, nature has amazing lessons to teach us if we'll take the time to look and listen. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, I wish that I had spent more time listening to life stories of older people in my life. In their stories are treasures of yesteryear. I hope you search for them and treasure them. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, trust your heart You'll know whe someone cannot be trusted. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, For decades of my life I looked in the mirror and saw the real me who wanted to be set free. You see, I had created a fake me that would fit in with the people around me. Finally, I set the mirror me free. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, we each are given only a small amount of time on this planet. Make the most of your time. Be you! Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! The human journey is universal. We all begin and end. Our paths may be different. Our colors may be different. Our luck may be different. Even so, we will all have a beginning and then take our place in the line marching toward our end. It is the way of nature. So, I sit here today making this rhyme to remind you to make the most of your time standing in line – Steven Skelley Pawpaw loves Connor, Bryson and Archer!

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My sister Sherry courageously battled cancer until she left this life at the age of forty-five. She was a special person and the ideal big sister. I will remember her life as a gift – the gift of a good example. Pawpaw loves and misses you all

  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! The world is full of pain. People suffer horrible things every day. What better goal is there for us than to love and help those who suffer? Pawpaw loves Connor, Bryson and Archer.

Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer!   I ahev endured more than twenty surgeries on my hands, knees, wrist, shoulders and skull. I have scars all over my body. I don't see them as ugly. Each scar tells a story of a challenge faced and conquered. Pawpaw loves Connor, Bryson and Archer!

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My Mom, Sherill May McWilliams Skelley, was a beautiful woman and a loving mother. You would have loved her and she would have loved you. She passed away at the young age of 45. I have missed the sound of her voice every day since.  Pawpaw love you, Connor, Bryson and Archer!

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! When I was two years old, my parents lived next door to a family that also had a two year old boy. Naturally, we played together every day and became friends. One day, his family moved away.  Later, we also moved to another city. I entered Kindergarten. On my first day, I was surprised to find my neighbor friend there! His family had moved to the same city. We attended school together from Kindergarten to High School graduation. Around the end of Middle School, I ended our friendship over something stupid. I said terrible things. I was an idiot. Forty years later, his face popped up on my computer on a social media program called Facebook. I sent him a message apologising for my childhood foolishness. I honestly did not expect a reply. To my surprise, he messaged me back. In his kindness he said, "We all have done things we regret. I choose to forget those and remember all the go

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS   Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! I looked up at the moon and a poem came to me. I hope it means something to you. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! Sometimes it is fun to write a fun and silly poem. I hope this oine makes you laugh. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, it is easy to get caught in the storms of life and forget how wonderful you are. When you forget, I'll remind you. Love you, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! First Love is a powerful thing. In my case, it was a lost love. We were childhood best friends. We had the same dark hair. People often asked if we were brothers. We finished each other’s sentences. We were soul mates. In the living hell that is sometimes life, we grew up in a time when men loving men was illegal. Men like us were beaten, jailed, murdered, refused employment, refused housing, castrated. It was terrifying to even consider admitting our natural sexuality. I was in love with a man since fifth grade but I was afraid to admit it.

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! I hope you enjoy my poem EDUCATION RUINS A SLAVE. 

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My three loves, I write this poem to remind us of the wonderful happy memories that can come back from something as simple as a familiar aroma crossing our noses. Love you, forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! I composed the original Choose Me as a religious / inspirational poem in the late 1980’s. I focused on the desire to fit in and have a place to call home that children feel so intensely.   When I reread my creation in 2020, I saw a different pathway for the end. Through decades of life experiences, I have learned that the only person that I need to have approve of me - is me.   I am now at peace choosing to set boundaries on people and situations that may try to pound my heart into submission to some unhealthy dependence on approval. And now when I Need one on which to rely I feel confident to simply choose me.  

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! My loves, you can overcome any challenge or heartbreak. All you need is already within you.  Love you, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! This is my poem A BUTTERFLY TO BE. Sometimes we feel like we don't fit in. It's ok though. There's probably something better that's yet to be, guys. Love you forever, Pawpaw

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS  

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 11   Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer!   It has been more than one year since I have been allowed to visit or speak to you, my loves. I miss you more than I can say.   Once again, I want to share something about myself since you are not allowed to know me. I hope that you somehow remember all the good times we had in your early childhoods.   Connor and Bryson, as funny as it may sound, you spent most of your preschool life at home nude! You both hated wearing diapers so, when your parents put them on you, you’d just take them back off.   Eventually, you were wearing underwear instead of diapers but you both preferred to be nude. Your parents gave in and let you live nude at home. You played in your yard nude. You played inside nude. You jumped on the trampoline nude. You were nude on your swingset.   When it came time for Connor to enter school, your mom and dad used to joke that they feare

PAWPAW'S  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 10   Pawpaw loves Connor! Pawpaw loves Bryson! Pawpaw loves Archer! MEMORIES OF MY MOM by Steven Skelley My mother’s name was Sherill May McWilliams (Skelley) but I called her Mom. Mom was very beautiful as a teen and twenty-something. I always thought she looked like Lucille Ball when she was young. She looked like an old-fashioned movie star. I’ve seen photos of her as a teen wearing a sleeveless, fitted dress blouse, Capri pants and sunglasses. She was young, fit, thin and beautiful. When I close my eyes and try to picture her as an adult, I remember her wearing pant suits with coordinated slacks and tops or sundresses with floppy movie-star hats and sunglasses. Mom liked to dye her hair red or light reddish brown. She wore red finger nail polish and lipstick. This made me think of her even more like the young and beautiful Lucille Ball. If I close my eyes, I can picture Mom right now, about 35 years old on a summer day, wearing a scar