Grandaddy's Legacy
Part of the inspiration for my book was the fact that, after a lifetime of thinking my grandaddy's last name was one thing, I learned that he was actually sired by another man. So much for genetics and geneology. I know this is a common situation that many people have found themselves in, researching their ancestry.
Grandaddy's origins are not something widely talked about, so I chose to change the names of the characters. Both to save from offending anyone in the family, and so I could take more artistic license with his life. In leaving out the worst stories I heard about him, I also hoped to create a better life for Omie, the character inspired by my grandmamma.
His were the legacies of abuse and addiction, though there were other, more favorable traits in Grandaddy, I'm sure. I would hope that if more information about recognizing and finding ways to overcome these predispositions could be in the public eye, perhaps we could make a change. Educate people that our DNA doesn't have to own our behaviors. There is the belief that we can change that DNA retroactively if we try. Seems worth the effort to me, and I hope that in this book I have done some good towards that end.
Grandaddy's origins are not something widely talked about, so I chose to change the names of the characters. Both to save from offending anyone in the family, and so I could take more artistic license with his life. In leaving out the worst stories I heard about him, I also hoped to create a better life for Omie, the character inspired by my grandmamma.
His were the legacies of abuse and addiction, though there were other, more favorable traits in Grandaddy, I'm sure. I would hope that if more information about recognizing and finding ways to overcome these predispositions could be in the public eye, perhaps we could make a change. Educate people that our DNA doesn't have to own our behaviors. There is the belief that we can change that DNA retroactively if we try. Seems worth the effort to me, and I hope that in this book I have done some good towards that end.
