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
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJLtGVugBe
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98vFz0Dhtk
