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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLajacRSrd8
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq92Fq8PevJ
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhAJxFXAM7
“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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ul5rC52tP
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ea9IuzkKO
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmF2OfvcKVz
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBxpXniYR8
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOpjECAe21
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeNVJFY4Ok
She had to report every penny.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRzsJwXQmZ
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqi3T7imQ2
They didn’t do it because it was easy.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgatNT742k
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiHmitKEg6
I had a home.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCdRiHIemy
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJocwHk9apT
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0xng8mVbF
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJD9eMihPN
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNl8WBKWwn
The outside looked decent—almost classy.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzUSdEJT73
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8bfhVhyV8
The bed sheets had holes in them.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEoNtVa9Cu
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvalCevuB6
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?148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4BGCPuXsKi
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRCvNKQF0l
I had my stuffed animals.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFh7AvID8vH
And for the first time in a long while...148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJl9wcgt1Lc
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz373ZMn3M2
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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPEeOmNhwo
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8IvSbbPq6
But bitter?148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqdFKpZOhi
Twisted by anger?148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKpwMXEJka
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0r7k9CbHdS
I don’t wonder. I understand.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqcEFIORL7
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eBhXRn9cr
God saw me in my Egypt.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBBg0CicDQ
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApUQ2CBeLh
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipevAQjF20
Before I ever called His name.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXwYWt7daB
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTsyqupgPX
And that’s why I’m telling this story.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfhWhzxuiD
Because I want someone reading this to realize:148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2xzIfHvqt
He sees you too.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmRGOzWwcK
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZRk8CUvQN
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmaVaTTNfZ
