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.62Please respect copyright.PENANApKdoWnJZTh
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”62Please respect copyright.PENANAAeA80TIW44
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.62Please respect copyright.PENANAg4x88pjilV
“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.62Please respect copyright.PENANAzhnuL0PJF4
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.62Please respect copyright.PENANAVp02sbIf5H
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,62Please respect copyright.PENANAxCjLfROnVC
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.62Please respect copyright.PENANAlotJuuBZpQ
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.62Please respect copyright.PENANAPFwNvUx0nH
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.62Please respect copyright.PENANAOrFYulgwW6
She had to report every penny.62Please respect copyright.PENANAYlXHYMVv23
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.62Please respect copyright.PENANASBYVdNyrNB
They didn’t do it because it was easy.62Please respect copyright.PENANAnaqz2Ojepv
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:62Please respect copyright.PENANA0zM8ExZy48
I had a home.62Please respect copyright.PENANAtsvJsgi5ZW
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.62Please respect copyright.PENANA5HEoi56LKK
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?62Please respect copyright.PENANARcy6p5nVhH
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.62Please respect copyright.PENANAoOoHbLyzua
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.62Please respect copyright.PENANA7Ve0OwSIMq
The outside looked decent—almost classy.62Please respect copyright.PENANAquiv6psxGz
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.62Please respect copyright.PENANAybu532yAOj
The bed sheets had holes in them.62Please respect copyright.PENANA4gvUnb3Vw4
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.62Please respect copyright.PENANAEeKq4kCVH0
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?62Please respect copyright.PENANAU0n8KhoE9j
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.62Please respect copyright.PENANAqrafWytgC3
I had my stuffed animals.62Please respect copyright.PENANAFOlrZn5LqP
And for the first time in a long while...62Please respect copyright.PENANA6s5pUhn5Yj
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.62Please respect copyright.PENANA5HKKzGe8vK
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,62Please respect copyright.PENANAPrBuqKyGLo
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.62Please respect copyright.PENANAVp23VBQPHP
But bitter?62Please respect copyright.PENANATj11JcixE9
Twisted by anger?62Please respect copyright.PENANAemgABxuK87
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.62Please respect copyright.PENANAWGjihtJ1UL
I don’t wonder. I understand.62Please respect copyright.PENANAaSo4LHYgJP
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.62Please respect copyright.PENANACZT0rjt4mi
God saw me in my Egypt.62Please respect copyright.PENANAfZIcTQ98YL
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.62Please respect copyright.PENANAY1IBd5ZGk4
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.62Please respect copyright.PENANACX2rKwSt0L
Before I ever called His name.62Please respect copyright.PENANApi7bFyy25H
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.62Please respect copyright.PENANA0QsXJyz143
And that’s why I’m telling this story.62Please respect copyright.PENANAPslwq8Xqyf
Because I want someone reading this to realize:62Please respect copyright.PENANAUo7W05jdxQ
He sees you too.62Please respect copyright.PENANAqKtGdQoIqe
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