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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyx7sYvIn0o
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWAQM5HqlOW
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5sakjZnja
“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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkg1n0myt8
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTP1tLCpY2
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDbl7CtUv6
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJwAjXTkr7
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zjWaPqXFg
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiwJTvLxTk
She had to report every penny.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhYKlyawx5
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zaEdOfLSw
They didn’t do it because it was easy.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxrnGMY9fN
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWxxAtoiFX
I had a home.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywOqRLjAW2
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d6d0szCZ3
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUk3o9nKp7r
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3Y1OVhxP8
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILIGeMEJgM
The outside looked decent—almost classy.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fomaBzKyF
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSNXmHHZPL
The bed sheets had holes in them.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgkFZXflj7
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SOMKMX3Ce
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?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL98cBtEcZF
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyMTwEk2n2
I had my stuffed animals.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCdwNXd87j
And for the first time in a long while...13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDRbb92hNS
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpni85kQLow
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,13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHl9E5NTaKO
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQK0Wy5afGX
But bitter?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IJv3jGMR9
Twisted by anger?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpsvEp5hv7
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnvXjW1rGj
I don’t wonder. I understand.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XPxYv9RPU
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9HKWH2eFX
God saw me in my Egypt.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76fdkyZ2Yv
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23qhELXyCZ
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtr6FbIc5d
Before I ever called His name.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDisu2ID9k
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsk03LCDox
And that’s why I’m telling this story.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigXqIxoiUW
Because I want someone reading this to realize:13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtvWwOuNIg
He sees you too.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYU27iHfft
13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqObZYe8mg2
13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBS0OibPhRL
