Grandpa Bob

Ever since Ryan began to openly communicate with his letter board, I have asked him if he has wanted to write anything about Grandpa Bob.  Each time he would spell something like DEARLY TOO HARD TO TALK ABOUT or TOO SAD TO TALK ABOUT IT.  For the past few weeks, about 3 times a week, without any kind of provocation, Ryan would just start crying.  Sometimes it was a few times a day, sometimes it was just once.  The reason was always the same:  SO SAD ABOUT GRANDPA BOB.

We haven’t spoken about Grandpa Bob on this blog until today.  To the readers who are not aware, Grandpa Bob is Robert Levinson, the longest held hostage in American History.  This past weekend, 5 Americans who were held prisoner in Iran were released.  Grandpa Bob was not one of them.  This was devastating to our family, including Ryan.

Today, after watching CBS This Morning featuring Grandma Chris and Uncle Dan, I again asked Ryan if he wanted to write about Grandpa Bob (without trying to be pushy and respecting that it was okay if it was again a “no”).  He spelled  YES.

We sat down and here is how the conversation went:

I gave Ryan some more background.  I talked about the prisoners who had been released.  I talked about how even though Grandpa Bob was not released on Saturday that we have not given up hope.  I asked him what he wanted to say.

DEARLY HARD FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT.

“I understand Ryan.  Please know that we are doing all that we can to keep the attention on the fact the Grandpa Bob has not come home.  Grandma Chris and Uncle Dan are going to be doing a lot more interviews over the next few days.  Aunt Sarah is working on an opinion piece to be published by a major news outlet.  I am still posting on Help Bob Levinson’s Facebook page and Twitter.  Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, and John Kerry have all tweeted about Grandpa Bob.  President Obama spoke about him in his speech yesterday.”

CALLING IT DELAYED ATTENTION.  I HAVE SAID IT BEFORE, ESPECIALLY AFTER THE DEBATES.  (Which he has, spelling very angrily after one of the debates, GAPING HOLE IN THE QUESTIONS! THEY DID NOT ASK ABOUT GRANDPA BOB!)

“I agree Ryan.  I am not sure what to say.  We are trying our best now to keep his name in the media.”

ARE YOU GOING TO BE ON THE NEWS?

“Why do you ask?”

GEARING UP IF YOU ARE.

“I have offered to call in for phone interviews or do any interviews via satellite from Dallas. I do have a role though and it is often behind the scenes with the social media portion.  Do you want me to be on the news?”

YES.

“Do you have anything else that you want to say about the Grandpa Bob situation?”

 

DEAR GRANDPA BOB,

I AM RYAN, YOUR FIRST GRANDSON. I AM REALLY SAD, CARING FOR YOU SO MUCH. MY MOM IS ALWAYS TELLING ME STORIES ABOUT YOU. SOMEDAY I KNOW THAT I WILL GET TO SEE YOU AGAIN. HAPPY TO MEANINGFULLY PRAY FOR YOUR RELEASE FROM PRISON. SOMEDAY I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING TO KNOW YOU IN PERSON.

LOVE,

RYAN YOUR GRANDSON

 

Please follow Robert Levinson’s story at http://www.helpboblevinson.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/helpboblevinson and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HelpBobLevinson.

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