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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWBUQYv7JL
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTChfDutVs
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMApwwOfvnG
“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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYcYrTmImK
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrH1xFDLxI
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVsavy20dU
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcN4sgKSrg
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQel0UFZRnc
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRG0r4RewA
She had to report every penny.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuctePA26Qu
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IxgexQEoT
They didn’t do it because it was easy.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPFaCjAPQm
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqsr3eBoOZ
I had a home.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowrnJVajgF
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsEpFbNW9T
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaaxybajRY
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfS7CvuIii
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdrV7cJ5Tr
The outside looked decent—almost classy.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fy9Cr3YP2
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKevMxv5h9
The bed sheets had holes in them.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVrqRe7mJf
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95KpxRKYyO
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?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25RqHKASAC
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxLLarwgJr
I had my stuffed animals.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSC0waUVSL
And for the first time in a long while...29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUGLld2Twh
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYItx1jJ2fD
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,29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTKXYiE49R
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujd37OW5CK
But bitter?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88BDaLXgTa
Twisted by anger?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbVGfDKker
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJM16DhFgX
I don’t wonder. I understand.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9LaiWi6A2
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeaKZD14FR
God saw me in my Egypt.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkqfXyvPle
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PQzSfBhDA
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcV8lw7qoX
Before I ever called His name.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmmb7pZOYB
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSI2WBnG2zU
And that’s why I’m telling this story.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQetUUOlO0T
Because I want someone reading this to realize:29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIKzGYh9g6
He sees you too.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8310PR3PA
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbo4L59WTM
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTEaTFD877
