Kneeling for the national anthem

    Ryland Henry Redacted Jr. was the most influential person in my life. That fact will never change. He was a World War II veteran, a paraplegic, and the greatest grandfather ever. That's the order of the story.

     First, he fought in the pacific. A lot of his views on life were formed there. As his grandson, I heard countless stories about his time in the Navy.

     Second, after a horrific motorcycle accident, the last forty years of his life were spent bound to a wheelchair.

     Third, the greatest grandpa. I have so many stories of my grandpa. But here is one I've never told. Every year during the summer, my grandma and my sister would go to the beach for a week. During that time, I would take care of my grandpa. One of these years was 1988 and I was 10. My grandpa decided he wanted some good pipe tobacco, not just his usual Beech-Nut. So, we went to the tobacco store, no handicap access. So, he told me to go in and ask the clerk to come out to him. I tried... before I took a second step into the door... The clerk started yelling! Now in my memory he was probably 7 foot 9 inches tall. He yelled "Get the hell out of here, there is nothing in here for you!" 

   So, I get back to the car in tears, to a 10-year-old it was traumatic. My grandpa heard what the clerk said and was ready when I got back to the car. Without saying a word, he immediately drove to my favorite place, Mr. Fables, and ordered my favorite lunch. Afterwards, we went to the baseball card store. I think this was the only time he ever went in. That day he bought me some cardboard boxes to organize and numerically sort my collection.

   I spent hours sorting my entire collection into those boxes. I've always loved the way numbers just make sense.

    So, I hope you understand how important my grandpa was to me. My grandpa would have loved to stand for the national anthem, but he could not.

    This was a hard video to fit in three minutes, but it is live!