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.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6PUJjOaHZ
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzCVkZj0dh
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguTiV2togY
“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.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrq6BL2Mgmm
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYCUYd64i9
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzNamjQL6A
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7ueKbdtgw
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.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSLUE4eCMS
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.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuIxdCgBSU
She had to report every penny.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GJTz4qzoM
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9MryIi3q0
They didn’t do it because it was easy.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCTlsexw68
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxSKBMVVhr
I had a home.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8Yr0lFhrb
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4Xx1VS8oq
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKifPlVGlVK
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXJlahH0nX
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKu74r1T0B
The outside looked decent—almost classy.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIctDyc5ZP
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvJFZfUkzE
The bed sheets had holes in them.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GmuO246TR
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxpwd28hGn
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?165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6q0bpeMNz8
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjselH66V8
I had my stuffed animals.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XJyMHUqsh
And for the first time in a long while...165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfQ812tq3a
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.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR894tbBG9r
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,165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnCgZdMbgm
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNU6gHFads
But bitter?165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtQjC3Htf2
Twisted by anger?165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGG7ssCd7F
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.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KSWM2uBzf
I don’t wonder. I understand.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vfmGBFyUN
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetO0fwatyE
God saw me in my Egypt.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQSGZBpABI
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ0Y7H3oFc
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88IExfTIAk
Before I ever called His name.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8mvQLOsVJ
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ989SF5D80
And that’s why I’m telling this story.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eRVMIgYAL
Because I want someone reading this to realize:165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcHVmPG9s2
He sees you too.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7Rzh7vJeg
165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYs6YTSqcu
165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNYg3gFjYh
