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
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4IMwDAGfb
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRpdWMXvz2
