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.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8n8S1e5UO9
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmLR5CKscC
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJEMVwyHlf
“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.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ893Y34znAq
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZ9LInOdm7
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡht8BkZHPRd
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOOG2ugGgC
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.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YIhmgmBNA
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.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweYlq7XpiT
She had to report every penny.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ELDRC4327
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpILEW5Wjx
They didn’t do it because it was easy.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WQfWEhMtM
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWSQIIOaiB
I had a home.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLP3Jaazl4d
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhbV0VamB1
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneqQ1dFhbP
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwH50INwHFN
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4T6gZzPV75
The outside looked decent—almost classy.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhonZO8GmrW
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVAJcz7cag
The bed sheets had holes in them.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6G3NCYpiU
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiXLToyi33
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?53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHzl7a4li3
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgut60RaVVW
I had my stuffed animals.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZOqZsr1Ok
And for the first time in a long while...53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIaufFKqYW
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.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4Hbf6Gois
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,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYpFXLPCAQ
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLP5NORA2D
But bitter?53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuDhYR41nr
Twisted by anger?53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyL5EqfbczC
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.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUZjkf6Poe
I don’t wonder. I understand.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs72l8HyTJQ
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgOsJ4P4ls
God saw me in my Egypt.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ12Dx2wgG5
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzSkpvS9Dn
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtRZsKtAM7
Before I ever called His name.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAKrOsG4MV
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSJYaMY4tx
And that’s why I’m telling this story.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5RnJsXt6m
Because I want someone reading this to realize:53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZInM49wqx1
He sees you too.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWydM4YrumJ
53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAr3FUQk2x
53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLK7xXajdw3
