My name is Shelly Strauss Rollison and I live (and was born) in the Pittsburgh area. I'm a happily divorced mom of two boys who (on Dec. 30, 1998) married the most beautiful woman on earth. (I know it's not legal, but that didn't stop us.) You can see our wedding album if you want. We went to Canada in 2003 and on October 30 of that year were legally married in Toronto. You can view that wedding album if you'd like as well.

Although I received my bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Marquette University, I never used it. It took me many years to realize I never wanted to be an engineer. But it has come in handy since I used part of that training in my work, structural steel detailing, a fancy name for drafting. When drafting didn't provide a steady enough income, I became a nurse aide. I'm writing a booklet on what to expect when you or a loved one has to enter a nursing home because, trust me, it's not anything like they tell you on the nice tours they give you. Being a nurse aide is a very physically demanding job and very emotionally taxing, so I took training to become an EMT. And in about two weeks from now (9/14/10) I will be starting classes to become a paramedic. While still working full time as a nurse aide. It's gonna be a long 15 months.

About a year after I graduated from college, I went out to Denver, CO. The Colorado Rockies are absolutely beautiful and they are my spiritual home. My wife and I talked about moving back there, but the cost of living is so high now. She would like to live by the ocean and I want to live in the mountains, so we're talking about Washington State since that's got both of them right beside each other. (Neither of us wants to live in California.) But that plan literally went up in flames when our house burned down on April 29, 2008. The house we had paid off completely was now a pile of ashes and we were under-insured. So now we have a new house on the same lot and a mortgage that's gonna take us 20 years to pay off. So we'll be here for a while.

I'm an amateur astrologer who offers free birthcharts. I believe a birthchart shows us the tools we have brought withus into this life and the things we need to fix with those tools. Anyone intersted in receiving a chart, please email me (by clicking on the zodiac above) and include your name, the date, time (as close to exact as possible) and the city and state and country where you were born. Please don't expect fast results....I'm swamped right now and it's taking a few months after I receive the request to get the chart done. I'm hoping to soon get the information I use for interpretations up online so that all I have to do is provide you with the chart and you can read the information yourself. But that may take a while.

(welcome)

(this is braille)

I'm also a certified Braille transcriber by the Library of Congress. I have already completed transcribing my first book for the Bower Hill Braillists Foundation of Mt. Lebanon, PA. I have also received permission to transcribe JRR Tolkien's books, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, into Braille. That project went up in flames with the rest of my house. And I really don't have the time to start over again, although I do still have my Braille typewriter. If anyone is interested in learning how to transcribe Braille, please contact the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Computers are now able to do Braille transcription using special software. Please check into it. Should you know someone who needs a book transcribed, please email me. But due to the high demand and low number of active transcribers, it may take a while to meet your request.

I have worked and volunteered in a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. I plan on returning to a volunteer status as soon as I complete the additional rape crisis training I need to volunteer at the local shelter. Domestic violence is the most prevalent social disease in today's society and we must find a way to stop this horrible crime. Many times, the woman does not realize what resources are available to her. If you know someone (and men can be victims of domestic violence) who needs help, please listen and BELIEVE her/him. For more information, please check out "Until All Are Safe" in the library.

One of my greatest passions is my writing. I have completed 20+ novels/short stories and have several more in the works. I have one already published as an ebook and have several more that are in the works for publication as ebooks. My books are what most would consider a bit "unconventional". If there is a common thread to them, it is that there are no limits to the power of Love. The stories I write focus on the relationship between the main characters and usually includes a spiritual (NOT religious) aspect or overtone. Until I get them published (either as ebooks or on paper) my books are all available in pdf format and may be purchased by clicking on the book above.

I'm a firm believer in living my life according to my beliefs. I make every effort to live my life by the Golden Rule and strive for honesty and openness in all my dealings with others. I have walked a long winding path on my spiritual quest and I know the end is still a long way in the distance. I look forward to the rest of my journey with great anticipation. In my humble opinion one of the biggest problems in today's society is a lack of tolerance for other ways of thinking and other belief systems. We all the the right to think or believe what we will AS LONG AS WE DO NOT HURT OTHERS in exercising that right. Like the prisms above, what appears to be one color light can be broken down into its many components. All are necessary to insure that the whole remains complete. And like the ying-yang, we must strive to achieve a balance in our lives, constantly keeping in mind that the life we have to balance is OURS, not our neighbor's.

Part of my spiritual journey led me into correspondence with prison inmates. While I have heard the horror stories, I have not had any problems with the men and women with whom I write. Most of these people are simply looking for some human contact, a sense that they are not animals warehoused in cages and treated as the scum of the earth. They have made mistakes and most are the first to admit it. Please click on the prison bars above if you would like to write to someone in prison.

And finally, I used to be a chataholic and spent a lot of time in a chatroom called Women's Wire, which has since gone defunct and is no more. But while I chatted there, I met some wonderful people...way too numerous to mention here. (And besides, if I tried and forgot someone, I'd hurt someone's feelings...) For those who have not chatted, it is difficult to understand the bonds that form between people who chat every day. But the bonds are there and some of them are amazingly strong. I was lucky enough to host a CBQ (a barbecue for a lot of my chat friends) and we gathered from all over the country. The meeting was not awkward, as one would expect of people who had never laid eyes on each other before. Rather it was like a meeting of old, dear and much loved friends. I had the honor of cohosting the 2nd Annual CBQ last year 1998 with a lady who had attended the first CBQ and ended up moving here. We were gonna try to make it a yearly thing, but this year's was cancelled due to lack of people who could make it. If you have never experienced chatting before, find a chatroom and check it out. But please be courteous and avoid the use of foul language...if you don't, you will be placed on ignore and no one will talk to you. Oh, and one more thing, the use of ALL CAPS in chat is the equivalent to screaming, so don't use ALL CAPS unless you have something really important to say.

It has been a pleasure sharing a part of myself with you. I hope you enjoyed your visit. I wish you happiness and joy in your life.

With Love and Light to all!

Click on the wand
if you'd like to see
a very old picture of my family!

The price of silence is the loss of freedom.