PAWPAW'S DIARY: MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 58 - Summer Swims

PAWPAW'S DIARY: MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 58

Pawpaw loves Bryson, Connor and Archer!

Summer Swims

   When Dad was working, we had some fun times as a family and some good vacations. We went to Atwood Lake and Berlin Lake to swim and picnic. These were happy times and everyone from the extended family came together for pot-luck picnics and cookouts at the lakes. It was fantastic spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Mc, Mom and Dad, all the aunts and uncles and kids. We’d swim, eat, fish and play together from early morning until after dark. Good times. Good memories.

   One summer, Dad must have been working because Mom and Dad bought us season passes to the Menegay’s swimming pool in Louisville, Ohio. It had two high diving boards, a low diving board and a 20 foot high slide that was great fun. My sister Susie was too young to go but Skip and Sherry thankfully brought me along with them. We would bicycle the two miles to the pool or take a shortcut through the woods which cut the trip down to one mile but made us pass through hungry woods mosquitoes.

   In the years we couldn’t afford a swim membership, we’d swim in the creek that ran through the woods behind our home and under a train bridge. We’d jump off the railroad bridge into the creek. Someone hung a thick rope from a tree and we’d swing out over the creek and drop in, laughing, screaming, and cheering each other on the whole time. When the trains came, we’d sit under the bridge until they passed. You could feel the ground vibrate and hear the metallic roar of the thunk-thunk, thunk-thunk as the train passed overhead. As we played, we’d eat the wild strawberries, apples and raspberries that grew in the woods.

   At other times when it was just me or just me and my guy classmates, we’d skinnydip in the creek. After all, why take off your dry clothes, then put on other dry clothes just to get them all wet? We’d strip off our clothes and leave them on the bank of the creek or hanging in the trees. Then we’d cannonball in nude and natural. It was innocent fun that seemed to bond us even more than usual.

PAWPAW'S DIARY: MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 43 - I've got a hole in my butt! That dog bit me!

PAWPAW'S DIARY:  MESSAGES TO MY GRANDSONS 43

I've got a hole in my butt! That dog bit me!

By Steven Skelley

I was not old enough to be in Kindergarten so I must have been three or four years old. Dad decided to take me and my brother Skip for a walk - just the guys. Skip is seven years older than I am so he would have been ten or eleven. For some reason that I don't remember, we didn't walk on the sidewalk. We walked right on the street itself. Dad was on my left and Skip was on my right. They each held one of my hands. I felt completely safe with these two big guys surrounding me. 

I was safe like a little prince in a castle - until the dog came running at us, barking and growling. It had jumped off the front porch of a house where a woman sat. She called to the dog and yelled, "He won't bite," to us. She was mistaken. Dad reached down and started to lift me to safety when the dog reached us and bit me right on my bottom. I screamed. I don't remember much after that because my eyes were filled with tears and my ears were filled with my own screams of terror. I have a vague sense that my Dad and the dog lady were exchanging unpleasant words. 

In my memory, the dog was a giant, snarling, man-eating Doberman. Who knows? It may have been a Dachshund. I was three! I don't know how we got home. I don't even know how we got to the doctor's office. That whole part of my child memory is blank. The next thing I do remember is the doctor saying that I needed a tetanus shot. 

When he prepared the syringe, the needle looked a foot long to me. I lost my little mind and tried to break free and run away. It took both of my parents to capture me and hold me down on the table so that the doctor could inject me with the medicine. He earned every penny of his fee that day. I bet he hoped never to see my face - or bratty bottom - again. I went home with an injection and a bandaid covering the dog bite hole in my kid butt.

It's true. I got a hole in my butt where that dog bit me!

Pawpaw loves Connor!

Pawpaw loves Bryson!

Pawpaw loves Archer!

As I write this life story for you three, I miss you so very much. I tried reaching out to your parents again but they refuse to respond. I can't stop being gay or being married to my husband. I don't know why that or my voting for another political party means I am no longer family. I miss you.

All my love forever, 

Papaw

Always know that Pawpaw didn't leave you. I was banned from seeing you in 2020. I hope you find these messages when you are a grown man. If I'm still alive, I would love to see you again.