Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ron Enter the Scene
Years later, my grandma told me about the phone call that changed everything.
It came from my dad’s commanding officer.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAk3r0vxyx
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucyum1l9lR
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8ra22JTno
“With his weak immune system and his blindness... he’s going to be picked on for the rest of his life.”
That’s what she was told.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVU4zhM4FoE
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4VHgqY45L
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sd6c8BeNT
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ947v159AY3
That’s not really “grandparent age.” They were still young, still building their own life. But they didn’t hesitate. They didn’t ask, Can we afford this? or What will people say? They didn’t treat me like a burden.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8c3EN18Ccp
They treated me like family.
They drove down, picked me up, and brought me home.
The courts officially gave me to them. Grandma Lou had to keep track of how much money she spent on me each month—diapers, clothes, food, medicine—everything.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOi2yL4y7ur
She had to report every penny.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEUFoi9hnx
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMSy8OEh8Z
They didn’t do it because it was easy.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfCM7XgSkn
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnDKspeXYK
I had a home.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7W4HVC9qI6
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2yZkjbBsN
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Cd6kjGXka
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPyLDa8KVT
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1jILOFAVw
The outside looked decent—almost classy.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2wA2FN2ac
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMGooEn5Do
The bed sheets had holes in them.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YYdo9XGEE
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsXZXSWAzm
It was the kind of place where you don’t take your shoes off—and if you do, you say a prayer first.
But to me?58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2ORDamqCL
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30QRJ0Bk2J
I had my stuffed animals.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsTcexi5EE
And for the first time in a long while...58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkzRrXUPmM
I had people who actually wanted me.
Even in a crummy hotel room in Kentucky, surrounded by threadbare blankets and cheap carpet, I was beginning to feel something that almost felt like peace.
It wouldn’t come all at once.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2BqUKXfWr
But this—this was the start.
Looking back now, I realize something important:
If God hadn’t been protecting me before I even knew His name,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCVVABplWn
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwyZJBDywAk
But bitter?58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcl9CLgk7qf
Twisted by anger?58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzykPZQ1j6
Eaten up by loneliness and pain?
Yeah. I could’ve gone down that road.
Some folks look at villains in shows and wonder how they got so messed up.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkaeF8GzM9
I don’t wonder. I understand.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjN6O29eWWz
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhqnlppg9S
God saw me in my Egypt.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vsFxu3Wil
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrxg3VuTdM
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMK1qf40cIt
Before I ever called His name.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUQOycy1HX
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikCyczeTXl
And that’s why I’m telling this story.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8F4ZJaMhx
Because I want someone reading this to realize:58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4PtOW2HBo
He sees you too.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa22cP03un2
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwBKUSogMd
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJV5RhgXYl
