I want to thank Steve P. for allowing me to share some things about my friend Graeme. I heard the news yesterday morning and was numb until around noon. After that, I started to realize that this crazy friend of mine who I had basically talked with every day for five years was out of my life, was no longer here on earth, and was taken from this World far too quickly. The rest of the day and night I was a basket case and still am for that matter. But I just wanted to list out a few things that come to mind and always made me laugh about Graeme.
1. His constant calls and texts.."got game, call me" "Talked to the Man, call me", "got some major "G", call me immediately"
2. How excited he would get over recruits 40 times, heights and weights, etc.
3. How so many War Daddy DT's were going to be the "next Stroud and Seymour or Sully". How a certain signing class "would be the best in the history of the G", etc.
4. How he DESPISED Tennessee. How he always reminded us that that these heathen huns were our mortal enemy, and that we should never forget how much they cheat and how important it is that we beat them.
5. I always laughed how Ghost claimed to be at a few more Georgia games than he actually attended, and would give "eye witness reports" from the game even though he "may" have actually watched from home. Funny stuff.
6. The love of his stormtroopers - Kane, Canada, Barney, Prather, etc. Of course he called me "bitter" Ashton cause I was always the glass half empty to his glass half full approach. I constantly had to remind him to slow down when he would start to announce each player as being "the next big thing"
7. His sayings, which all of you have been going over - they never stopped being funny - but he meant them. Dawgs or Die, Dawgs Dynasty, Glory to the G - he meant that, just as many have said he was so passionate about the Dawgs, their future, and passionate about his friends. As Barney stated, he would let the fists fly to defend his friends and ask questions later.
8. How just randomly he would start on a tear about Civil War heroes and stories. Misspelling their names just as badly as he'd misspell Georgia greats like Zeir.
9. His constant calls to me to "go on the vent and defend me!". Graeme really did want to be liked, and loved all the notoriety and attention you all gave him. But when people would call him out, embarrass him, or cut him down, it hurt him. He wanted his boys to go douse the fire cause Ghost cared about how people felt about him.
9. His ramblings to me about the "beans" who always bashed him. We all know his love of Hacksaw, Jasons, etc. Yes, he would threaten to "skullf*ck" some of you and throw down at a minutes notice; but that was just passionate Ghost defending his person, views, and beliefs. Trust me, if Ghost saw Hacksaw or another vent "enemy" in a threatening situation with a stranger, Ghost would have been the first one to go in there and beat the tar out of someone threatening a Dawg.
10. He loved Jim Donnan and his "Donnanisms" - Innuendo, First one off the bus, do it when the band is playing, eeuuuhhhhh...I'm the greatest! I was always defending Donnan, and Graeme and I had a ton of laughs about the old Coach. Graeme grew to love "the doogan" and always wanted us to have lunch with or go "golfing with the Doogan" or "drinks with the Doogan". I had lunch with Coach Donnan on signing day while Graeme was up at the Blind Pig with Canada, and Graeme told me he raced GoKarts with Doogan that night at Andretti's speed lab and Donnan ran him off the road and went "uuueeehhhh, I told you I'm the greatest!" Just classic Ghost stuff and very funny. Not sure if it was true,but very funny.
I could go on all day but I just want people to know that Ghost was VERY happy with life. He was clean, had a great woman in his life (Donna), and he was having fun and looking forward to his future. We were supposed to go out to dinner together on Thursday night. I felt awful yesterday because he always asked me to do things with him but I always found an excuse not to because of my kids and their activities. Oh how I wish he was here to apologize for that and start hanging out with him more instead of just always talking on the phone. His back was source of constant pain for him, but when he and I spoke Monday afternoon he was excited about a recent trip to the his Doctor about his back.
Graeme was a real friend, again we spoke just about every day, and he was always there for his friends, loved his late mother, and loved the "G". Please remember him as Georgia's biggest cheerleader, and defender of the Dawgs. I will be at his service on Thursday, and I hope some of you are able to make it to show his family how loved Graeme was and how many lives he touched. I know I don't have to go on here defending him now, cause I can read and see how much he meant to all of you. RIP Graeme, it's just not right that you're gone. I miss you. We all will. Glory to the "G"
