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.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTFLBMcMp7
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsLacd29hR
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvbzlWpMkM
“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.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUVtIgKRj9
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6S8RLXBlWh
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLXK75NVDy
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejUN6geHQZ
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.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEXWR4nMGB
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.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvvLIW4EjX
She had to report every penny.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEgvTbHijL
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NNtpSBIv1
They didn’t do it because it was easy.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3mCrIPzdA
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeT5mC3Eom
I had a home.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMGK30pr2r
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QMKScyCVC
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmgcUvldG0
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZ13PTnYo2
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixjRPY6xSK
The outside looked decent—almost classy.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOwFpc0iOI
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXUx1ucL6I
The bed sheets had holes in them.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CpWZV4gPi
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnggQQGC1c
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?78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCqTStPhiK
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZ8favBGZF
I had my stuffed animals.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDchgnnzFj
And for the first time in a long while...78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2uBMlJRrr
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.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf43feRgCGv
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,78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6tZ4wp5Ne
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1etiakj5t
But bitter?78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsKJuJkwhJ
Twisted by anger?78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZsOca63kM
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.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1w2slLbqr
I don’t wonder. I understand.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6Sah0oSuQ
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvccmT0gH2
God saw me in my Egypt.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PhpDE46AD
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMsFzRtulz
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQX8LHcRuEo
Before I ever called His name.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1V8PybCeHE
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqelToldZWh
And that’s why I’m telling this story.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz86FSMN202
Because I want someone reading this to realize:78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKhRGVoGq0
He sees you too.78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hTrL8E39a
78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9DmcoSm1x
78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNV1EP774n
