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.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMaOQjl9lu
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOM9ylnPU7
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZFZKTSp2d
“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.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrzFS6GsQf
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCrCTLpJ3L
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSUwiJJoWZ
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCwyOfvcMF
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.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVec3VyPmFN
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.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdkjYrkg6f
She had to report every penny.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw54uccEsQu
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutScCMrnqJ
They didn’t do it because it was easy.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGIghk4rIF
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiETe8bzj8n
I had a home.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSKpxugi8L
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpU3E0wANKs
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ786BQWZrVj
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeImE8qkcp9
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvL8WZkVGB
The outside looked decent—almost classy.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7u2d6pqZx
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMrtfwj1AV
The bed sheets had holes in them.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFU7a6qQpk
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTsPyBmpqz
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?56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwxkOrp4fl
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxF1ZGTFFkE
I had my stuffed animals.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRf1JfCQ0S
And for the first time in a long while...56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DcjBXTibH
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.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvts3txLtT
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,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡar5hqgCSNZ
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93nWjt44D3
But bitter?56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6oo4r4qCK
Twisted by anger?56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7R3irDfNlk
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.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ciQPdohcx
I don’t wonder. I understand.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNh30urMei
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiRbm6ACMg
God saw me in my Egypt.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1VFsmgc7v
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qpeLm5gwn
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhLvCjL5pf
Before I ever called His name.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7S1OewtAnN
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7C1jIIlOhD
And that’s why I’m telling this story.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQ9yQ5p4Qp
Because I want someone reading this to realize:56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQ50A90XYS
He sees you too.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbt2Ks9hO8s
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKj46xsOUo6
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUtPRy2BVj
