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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfvQAazc53
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVL1dxsmUuT
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9P0Js3X8Xy
“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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0F6FEQVME6
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ517xlQOh8p
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wrMMw8VgY
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUiMeVmO87
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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4d1OWuBx9i
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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WE9ANOonK
She had to report every penny.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTBC9UJbn4
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCrzmmwbbr
They didn’t do it because it was easy.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqV5DYnk0k
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmRlspfv7O
I had a home.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtU0rcbDbh
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKambh54fgu
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfuQJxxnh2
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZj6gFnBkxR
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SltIWVD70
The outside looked decent—almost classy.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCV1fGruHL
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4P1sap7588
The bed sheets had holes in them.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQZN5kB7eZ
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFB3ndiDDG
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?143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqOiVNXq0X
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNW2mtkEUp
I had my stuffed animals.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1yf96bx5I
And for the first time in a long while...143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnIO9KYxJy
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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJxRY6q0K2
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,143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhZbVUQ0Kf
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXpTBxOaJo
But bitter?143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnS85E77iH
Twisted by anger?143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkgX8WzQAL
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.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUqYYRORYf
I don’t wonder. I understand.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DbG4O2HEJ
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhnIyXDcVH
God saw me in my Egypt.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTWDq4PSxs
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRMI7kbjpi
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDCdGFEzMk
Before I ever called His name.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDFZYSrnBD
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CFTo4uXlz
And that’s why I’m telling this story.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusjC1VqMyz
Because I want someone reading this to realize:143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3v6Af5BS3L
He sees you too.143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6Hg8P3n0N
143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBjRETzesY
143Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHGBxChlC8
