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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9m61eCWzfr
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1UdpklQ16
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUtmFkYczy
“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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYzmrLnMQ8
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0YvuF2Q4E
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0sGUboLbb
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdX0ADWUYSD
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSfdlTRMln
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1nqaUH3KL
She had to report every penny.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCMbMBFeZl
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkxQgi8Z6n
They didn’t do it because it was easy.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyDGk1t4Oq
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJG5hS6YhwU
I had a home.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNbY1h88K0
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIlFu1NewB
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIEqW6l4W6
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3XVtBSS68
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRt9bcyn5QU
The outside looked decent—almost classy.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9PC3uklY8
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TvBaWOjAX
The bed sheets had holes in them.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPGl8niqV2
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfljPk5ITe
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?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfpYhRio16
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcclKuo2Zs
I had my stuffed animals.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nLMqd7Fih
And for the first time in a long while...60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPZx9Xs5aq
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDmf4Miib0
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,60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHnVrgjU1Y
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZcf1o8yfp
But bitter?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyMR7I9zaI
Twisted by anger?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjCw50gy9g
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcAZgkFeaP
I don’t wonder. I understand.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkX33tJpSWZ
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAY1GNx2fjt
God saw me in my Egypt.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dEUrxZGOZ
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIrwk1VkFd
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOGSzJvFQ9
Before I ever called His name.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkwHe4NFAe
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6jBzguoDc
And that’s why I’m telling this story.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdYWqOUszR
Because I want someone reading this to realize:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJvnN7Qsnv
He sees you too.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAz3teFO9u
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGBgGBbc8o
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSydq4kQrYa
