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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUqzVbWKRo
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5j0cdO87l2
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagDXF1RyiX
“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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5fQfF2KmY
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqW2FDMJDI
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7kCXEU9vf
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblFDNQgU2P
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXflZTYQyk
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaw9b7Aj0m5
She had to report every penny.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wDk3Lha59
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGrF6ZxU8v
They didn’t do it because it was easy.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsBnjFmwMr
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0W3muh41RT
I had a home.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzl1AXHeRop
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8C5Xk9e0R
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSDfNATAjd
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJVj0JJ1mm
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8piq7kQnB
The outside looked decent—almost classy.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaok2J5VLB
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2MNTk8Mkg
The bed sheets had holes in them.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4ubxU9JPf
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6dfezdjFG
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?37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmN24fI39A
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu64J7dPAY3
I had my stuffed animals.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkR9G2WbTFt
And for the first time in a long while...37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1FkoLOLhZ
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGzVFmzl0O
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,37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaqb137oVH
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82sYgxO4rP
But bitter?37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUgcFH0xC3
Twisted by anger?37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8kezLHrJn
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRNnLZDkIC
I don’t wonder. I understand.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TjxZ3R1AU
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAc0s30EZQ6
God saw me in my Egypt.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsO1Kriwi4Z
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCw5ckQeyj
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxX0i2ONHv
Before I ever called His name.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuslmGFI9FA
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneG5Ixu7aP
And that’s why I’m telling this story.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRxHpK68Hc
Because I want someone reading this to realize:37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIrUngtGt0
He sees you too.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIbNJyLHg7
37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8BJCSBzlF
37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKxNIcrDUR
