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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CZIQ1wqWh
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7B3fBmjkDm
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32n95mNX4x
“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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vNgZ01jEe
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGlKxjvtkN
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcY9dXp1jR
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtvOEGaoHI
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECth20Hjco
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTd1I0lt1P
She had to report every penny.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUtx3l6kJR
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeY9RZcPV07
They didn’t do it because it was easy.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixtfH6UyyV
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYCticOeJu
I had a home.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNW2rNFJjln
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5lyhDBVts
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9isvzZ6G8s
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHD73I9Fy1
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLxMVV2zi6
The outside looked decent—almost classy.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCFz4wlQgI
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOr2TuD44h
The bed sheets had holes in them.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXSNqpH7kD
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKW1VyRFPxB
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?19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlurD0ImnNV
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJr1cYSPv6e
I had my stuffed animals.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfF2ogI3N0
And for the first time in a long while...19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BDdaGN0Ga
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfp6FoYTde
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,19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdraaZqwLAV
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyMpmkP9Ii
But bitter?19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWUc5Vk8vU
Twisted by anger?19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIxZWZdDEH
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdIGkgci5O
I don’t wonder. I understand.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlso8ZDDd93
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ralUYZU2E
God saw me in my Egypt.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjAJyhBGB9
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNOKIfs8O7
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS68fg2MTV6
Before I ever called His name.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKLfcS82j1
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlK4ZDIhi1z
And that’s why I’m telling this story.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZNDq376ef
Because I want someone reading this to realize:19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6X409PCgzV
He sees you too.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6f4a9rmuhW
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jECE1cI6f
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRu6DPChzr
