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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z3O7fXszg
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPaQCUiz8d
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqvexPg09W
“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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaYINkzH2u
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhT3BAHGzu5
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7tR5C97t5
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdyX4ooRfG
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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2hdKQSeOX
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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NgT2yC7Jp
She had to report every penny.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IHlejDYcb
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUD9V5eVUqV
They didn’t do it because it was easy.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eOsJYiYKp
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XWHMpqLJ5
I had a home.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiy3ocqyEx
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijO0gn69HU
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqb3fG8EMFD
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYYQiJ7eaJ
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvFqpXTi6h
The outside looked decent—almost classy.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39HjJ0seSv
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbEa0tAjVD
The bed sheets had holes in them.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOXT6iAQpL
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4SvBJaKyo
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?116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7KeaPC9pK
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeL7FqxV6YC
I had my stuffed animals.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbX7vqEZhdk
And for the first time in a long while...116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcytQQGr0iF
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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxizb4e5dYO
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,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeI65oIQv9I
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxLB4zMA2N
But bitter?116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHFOwq1qLi
Twisted by anger?116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14zsC9bKVt
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.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRkjCyvpXr
I don’t wonder. I understand.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iGuwgtPqm
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvNM5ryNoQ
God saw me in my Egypt.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3XrY90tcL
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW03xriG64F
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmisIUB5oZc
Before I ever called His name.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO41X1i2Yts
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YfuZd8G9t
And that’s why I’m telling this story.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuts2HlRGO
Because I want someone reading this to realize:116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgcHAkv2DX
He sees you too.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUUqk9Ly0A
116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0IwYq3Y7S
116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKz9YwJF5y
