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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgd2VdrJU9
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7O0ZucdGAO
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAC6oL2z9eI
“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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJbHlbLU3F
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgUmfL4FFO
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9fORtqvDz
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9N38C1Q1F
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCe4tCXChL6
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFG5N6qQAsg
She had to report every penny.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOMcnKuzwT
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDQ0AhtIjz
They didn’t do it because it was easy.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanAdjccIUq
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFLdHp0GN2
I had a home.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MgsZmwEjZ
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4KwlfE4tQ
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rMZYhxraP
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QGpLmenYA
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebnr7nCrXc
The outside looked decent—almost classy.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdD76E6T49w
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDApDZdunc1
The bed sheets had holes in them.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR16zLJCpkM
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKB1OkEhDt
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?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnsLPpjYZW
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpxKWpk0AV
I had my stuffed animals.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDhbYMlJLf
And for the first time in a long while...60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1GSUJuzj2
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrloVmIyj6
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,60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwzMw2UaVT
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXtpsNB9tb
But bitter?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSojIosalY
Twisted by anger?60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFfsMv90QH
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDtYipexWz
I don’t wonder. I understand.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuhq5qYBWc
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CK4QchEkp
God saw me in my Egypt.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59SB8tcQvX
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77AxIiJ2D6
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvfTkipRcZ
Before I ever called His name.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pHkDVwlCN
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGY2Iv54KIU
And that’s why I’m telling this story.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zgwUbvnso
Because I want someone reading this to realize:60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUMXeJoFvX
He sees you too.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJKDkiRpDE
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIecLPyybCU
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9o7ccYyva
