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.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjPYRJt7bX
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rbJyb7Ch1
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XwT2gMmuz
“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.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzDZuabFCF
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCRVaQJUu1
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQJuLGU00W
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2N8tiHsim
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.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJPjz7Dq3i
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.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5x4rLfc4L1
She had to report every penny.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJVLAPaSDB
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTk1MAHyz8A
They didn’t do it because it was easy.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsD90ROMiUL
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTp1EnkzK8V
I had a home.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiZR6dzChZ
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bWPTwIaN6
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzP8zqHI5kv
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YpYxsZcqk
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6e4i5KNFhT
The outside looked decent—almost classy.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxizinpzrVL
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLi11pZAUHT
The bed sheets had holes in them.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeD74ggzJ1
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCSraAUsnL
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?48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEIwel1jRn
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazGSrjVld4
I had my stuffed animals.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBO0GmLL6H3
And for the first time in a long while...48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGtU4vYsWG
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.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZwfFLE3tC
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,48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5blPCX0ofN
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCM9lxrtk5Z
But bitter?48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgfT2CkFXE
Twisted by anger?48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxhvUINOMx
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.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrJVp1sIZT
I don’t wonder. I understand.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZQpXWIqfr
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9dlYmvAYG
God saw me in my Egypt.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75kk7HV4KG
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfKoYoavjk
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcISmeZ7RJ
Before I ever called His name.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXMHT6a2TD
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9x6hqB121y
And that’s why I’m telling this story.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdpc2Mv8Wa
Because I want someone reading this to realize:48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYugrOaX3d5
He sees you too.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qUlyJsx9s
48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MuKXNhTUl
48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIr012Iqi1
