Biologically my Grandfather
It’s always special to hear the story behind the quilt. We were just about finished with this one and I realized from making the quilt that I knew more about his Dad that the quilt was made in memory of than about Corey who hired us to make it. So I admitted it and just asked him, starting with “what do you do?” Here’s the answer and rest of the story from Corey.
I have been an academic advisor and a history instructor. Currently I am a manager of academic advisors and I teach history for Chattahoochee Technical College. I also teach history part-time for Kennesaw State. I really enjoy teaching and advising college students and he’s a big reason why. He helped become a naturally supportive person.
We had a exceptionally close relationship, in part because I was practically adopted. Biologically my grandfather, he saved me from reckless teenagers and gave me support and stability. He wasn’t married during my lifetime and my grandmother had already passed away (they were divorced anyway) and so for the first decades of my life, we were a total tag team. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending time together. We went on vacations, beach trips, all kinds of sporting events. You name it. I had an unusual, but rich, childhood and tons of life lessons packed into our 25 years together.
Because he was biologically my grandfather, I of course knew that I would be “orphaned” relatively young but when he got sick and died within a month right as I turned 26, I thought I had been robbed of another ten years together. I didn’t just lose my dad. I lost my best friend, sports buddy, and life advisor, too.
As for the most important lesson that he taught me, and this may not be exactly what you’re looking for but the most enduring lesson I got from him was to have confidence in myself. He was very supportive of me, my biggest fan, my cheerleader, and truly seemed to think that I could do anything. This has pushed me to take the next step, personally and professionally, countless times. Especially after his death.
He was a veteran and more of blue collar type and really entrenched in rural, small town, north Georgia life, but he recognized early on that I was different and he never tried to make me conform to that. Instead, he really supported and encouraged me to go to college and get an office job “with benefits.” The last part always makes me laugh because he was emphatic about that since he ran his own business, quite successfully, for most of his life, and it could consume his life. He didn’t think it was worth it and didn’t want that for me; and he loved that I ended up going downtown to Georgia State for my degree. He used to embarrass me to death by telling all the locals about my academic journey.
Chapter 1 of the story ends there. Corey said the writing was “therapeutic” . So, I think we need another few paragraphs to really close it. Hint, hint !
