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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDwYIpcV4m
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPnPF4olzW
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcPPjx5Jkp
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcsteaFha8
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKncFyPTPUx
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbREcqEMcY
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCf6DuwWsLq
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0lONyMpkT
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQE5IV90U1
She had to report every penny.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRCFpn9qbx
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41U8xhaChb
They didn’t do it because it was easy.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrLB9NESWH
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoktTb9YJCN
I had a home.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRSQsjoCs9
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukAiO3J5Vz
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8pb6f5Gh22
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9hE2C8LWI
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45aGfKWeqh
The outside looked decent—almost classy.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSt7sKsqjFe
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpobxKubUH
The bed sheets had holes in them.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzkxXWsJF6
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5S8zK8JALQ
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?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvE87X0tF4
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByeh4GmA6d
I had my stuffed animals.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡar7z4O0mAK
And for the first time in a long while...17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcP25K27Iy7
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Nr0JwyitR
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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsn9iBcGwIx
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknx1k0cn9q
But bitter?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx32WZhPQJx
Twisted by anger?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEu7kGPOeG
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTyuihRRUy
I don’t wonder. I understand.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBOmlkyEVy
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPBLBO5HAp
God saw me in my Egypt.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFtyjetLPd
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvT6JUsHJm
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlF2AqLwlDa
Before I ever called His name.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZysCWSCGfY
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1SfOZMwZW
And that’s why I’m telling this story.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrcVWd9yw6
Because I want someone reading this to realize:17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTsuo47iKh
He sees you too.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwWgp8wYUK
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLtuDg4Uxx
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYmCDQ1lpJ
