Lonely Pirate
Adoption Issues & Healing
Why am I a Lonely Pirate? Originally I
intended to make this site a treatise on traveling single-handed on
my boat. Lonely would indicate that I am traveling without a
companion in such a case. But in abject proof that the unconscious
mind is trickier and knows more than we ever give it credit, it
turns out that I actually am lonely in the, "Marked by dejection of
being alone," part of the definition of lonely. Consciously I was
completely unaware of such nonsense, having thought for most of my
life that I enjoyed solitude. But recent developments have broken
my entire world asunder, and such self-deceptions are falling
everywhere.
You see, I was orphaned and subsequently adopted as an infant. I was born Theodore Jeffrey Elliott, then adopted and renamed Stephen Richard Hassel (Steve). Until recently, I thought that had no effect whatsoever on my life. But I have found, much to my own surprise, that that simple past - shared by several million other adopted Americans (including Crazy Horse, Edgar Allen Poe, Faith Hill, George Washington Carver, John Audubon, John Hancock, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Tim McGraw, Steve Jobs, Steve Hassel, Theodore Elliott and a whole lot of other really interesting people - the whole list can be found here) - has shaped every single aspect of my entire life. From beginning to end my being separated from my mother at birth, being adopted and re-named, being raised by (loving) people who did their very best to be my family but were not really my own, has effected me to my very core.
And now I really am adrift, alone on a vast sea.
This site then is now a documentary of the struggles, triumphs and failures of an adopted child grown up (or not, actually). As I have found comfort in the stories and confessions of other adoptees, I hope something here might be of such service to others. And for those of you who just want to get an understanding of why Pirate Steve is so damned crazy, so maudlin, so introspective, so driven to search for answers - well this should do you just fine.
And who knows, perhaps someone reading the site will one day run into someone who knows my birth-mother...
You see, I was orphaned and subsequently adopted as an infant. I was born Theodore Jeffrey Elliott, then adopted and renamed Stephen Richard Hassel (Steve). Until recently, I thought that had no effect whatsoever on my life. But I have found, much to my own surprise, that that simple past - shared by several million other adopted Americans (including Crazy Horse, Edgar Allen Poe, Faith Hill, George Washington Carver, John Audubon, John Hancock, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Tim McGraw, Steve Jobs, Steve Hassel, Theodore Elliott and a whole lot of other really interesting people - the whole list can be found here) - has shaped every single aspect of my entire life. From beginning to end my being separated from my mother at birth, being adopted and re-named, being raised by (loving) people who did their very best to be my family but were not really my own, has effected me to my very core.
And now I really am adrift, alone on a vast sea.
This site then is now a documentary of the struggles, triumphs and failures of an adopted child grown up (or not, actually). As I have found comfort in the stories and confessions of other adoptees, I hope something here might be of such service to others. And for those of you who just want to get an understanding of why Pirate Steve is so damned crazy, so maudlin, so introspective, so driven to search for answers - well this should do you just fine.
And who knows, perhaps someone reading the site will one day run into someone who knows my birth-mother...
Contact Pirate Steve
Pirate Steve is the author of Lonely Pirate. He was born Theodore
Jeffrey Elliott in Buffalo New York in 1957. Carl and Avis Hassel
adopted and renamed the orphan Stephen Richard Hassel (aka Steve
Hassel), and he has lived as Stephen ever since. Until just
recently, when Theodore Jeffrey Elliott came back alive inside.
This site is about orphan, adoption, adoption issues, and Stephen
Richard Hassel, Steve Hassel and Theodore Jeffrey Elliott. If you
have any information about the birth-family of Theodore Jeffrey
Elliott, or just want to contact Stephen Hassel, just email Pirate
Steve! Steve Hassel, Stephen Hassel, Theodore Elliott all thank
you. We adopted may have issues, but we are family...
by 
