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.69Please respect copyright.PENANATBED7q1EQm
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”69Please respect copyright.PENANAg1REQnC12n
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.69Please respect copyright.PENANAEfebFaiBxF
“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.69Please respect copyright.PENANACqS0KT59P0
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.69Please respect copyright.PENANArTVjl0sfJ5
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,69Please respect copyright.PENANABYuw3MuaL7
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.69Please respect copyright.PENANAynF4e3rG5N
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.69Please respect copyright.PENANAIDBMscD7Te
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.69Please respect copyright.PENANAGFX1Xpc2YR
She had to report every penny.69Please respect copyright.PENANA5IK0teib8C
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.69Please respect copyright.PENANAvOXassidv7
They didn’t do it because it was easy.69Please respect copyright.PENANAuNlOpGSq3s
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:69Please respect copyright.PENANAu94GE7j1vs
I had a home.69Please respect copyright.PENANAgI3393h9om
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.69Please respect copyright.PENANA1yRh2lgJCp
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?69Please respect copyright.PENANAxDXGDTe48L
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.69Please respect copyright.PENANAfEmmNKMRLT
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.69Please respect copyright.PENANA7yp4JInqLw
The outside looked decent—almost classy.69Please respect copyright.PENANAbCH83LMSLw
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.69Please respect copyright.PENANA6IcI2KdpuB
The bed sheets had holes in them.69Please respect copyright.PENANAEJFqZfYKOp
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.69Please respect copyright.PENANAoSi35oUy7d
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?69Please respect copyright.PENANAgsD1WoJzv2
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.69Please respect copyright.PENANAl6tex3AqyR
I had my stuffed animals.69Please respect copyright.PENANAlAVotGJ53h
And for the first time in a long while...69Please respect copyright.PENANA51NRxDsYAd
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.69Please respect copyright.PENANAj1waPAvWEt
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,69Please respect copyright.PENANAj2IwhR8fMo
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.69Please respect copyright.PENANAosPzgMHCBh
But bitter?69Please respect copyright.PENANAtHUyiFT3e8
Twisted by anger?69Please respect copyright.PENANA2ACGUXsuIm
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.69Please respect copyright.PENANA9dtNLAUiWT
I don’t wonder. I understand.69Please respect copyright.PENANAGMNrkq9X6F
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.69Please respect copyright.PENANAqcfH6rN8Do
God saw me in my Egypt.69Please respect copyright.PENANATsoAdULlF6
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.69Please respect copyright.PENANAsya9PCiT2E
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.69Please respect copyright.PENANAvch6VHBCn8
Before I ever called His name.69Please respect copyright.PENANAOqGfoWeWMg
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.69Please respect copyright.PENANA1HM7Z0F65n
And that’s why I’m telling this story.69Please respect copyright.PENANAyypQhRyeWk
Because I want someone reading this to realize:69Please respect copyright.PENANAyDa1N5kt9F
He sees you too.69Please respect copyright.PENANAw9j8XmT9XP
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