Why

By Garrell Patterson

was born in an old, wooden, two-story hospital in Carrollton, Georgia, in 1949. Some years later it burned to the ground. For the first eleven years of my life, I lived in Bremen, Georgia. I was the oldest child of Alvin and Doris Patterson. Dad and Mother got married soon after Dad returned from Europe in 1946, where he’d served as a .30 machine gunner in the Tenth Mountain Division during World War ll. He was involved in three major battles and received a Presidential Unit Citation and a Bronze Star for saving the lives of many of his company after they were pinned down by a German machine-gun nest. Risking his life, Dad ran for high ground, carrying his machine gun and belts of ammo, which would normally have been a two-man job. He was able take out the machine-gun nest, allowing the company to advance up the mountain they were trying to take control of. Keep in mind that he was a nineteen-year-old country boy from Georgia, who had never been out of Carroll or Haralson counties until just a few months before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982265212

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Garrell Patterson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

844-682-1282

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use

of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical

problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The

intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you

in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any

of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right,

the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-6520-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-6521-2 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 05/17/2021

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Why?

Chapter 2 Girls Come into My Life

Chapter 3 The Beginning of the Why Me? Years

Chapter 4 The Next Step in My Career

Chapter 5 Stop the Presses

Chapter 6 Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Book

Chapter 7 Summer Break

Chapter 8 It Was Time to Go Back to Work

Chapter 9 Why Me?

Chapter 10 Batting Cleanup

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T here are so many people responsible for me being here and able to accomplish the things that I have. Linda says that on five occasions five doctors have told her that I had a 10 percent chance of surviving. I would like to thank the many doctors and nurses who have treated me. We figure that I have probably been in the hospital over thirty-five times and probably to the emergency room over twenty times.

Above all things, I want to thank the head doctor, the Lord my God, for allowing me to survive all of those times. What he is saving me for I don’t know and maybe will never know. But it could be this book, perhaps inspiring people that they can come back from serious sicknesses and injuries to accomplish something they thought impossible.

Linda has been by my side every second I have been in hospitals and more diligently at home taking care of me. I couldn’t have made it without her, and Terri and Betsy also.

I want to thank what had to be the greatest mother and daddy in the world. They grew up in the depression, and they so worried about starving to death that they had to have a large garden and grow enough of everything for all three of us children. They froze and canned gallons of food that was never eaten.

I haven’t been physically able to perform any kind of work in over twenty years, so I want to thank sons-in-law Tracy Robinson and Jeff Dewberry. They have been invaluable to us. I want to thank my brother, Barry, who does everything to my cars that I can’t do.

I want to thank Reverend Aaron Johnson, who has been like family for longer than I can remember. And when I need prayer or have a religious question, I just call or text him.

At different times in my life, these people have been good friends to say the least: Ralph Correll, Bob Jones, and Thomas Grey. As well as Bob Chandler, who has gone out of his way to make me like I am a normal person with no handicaps. We have become close friends, but I haven’t been able to hang with him much this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and who knows when it will be defeated.

The next chapter in my life story will be when I go land speed racing the first of October. I pray for a safe trip to and from the track and while I am running. And that I will be as successful as I have been in the past.

There is one more person