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.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXibQKok4DT
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4T3yiK3xS
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsWesc6vYY
“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.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8UVUw70xy
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbitdMceW7
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwc8aH7bXpO
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGkK9zeCPt
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.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvQPkQiqnD
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.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKK8NwoVIFe
She had to report every penny.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1moJ3JuoqZ
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz18yvZmGDN
They didn’t do it because it was easy.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5bVU3dtfJ
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxhzYuEo9V
I had a home.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oCQol6ikR
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLoxPgwIGg
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAipmvNJNF
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUIOJ8rST9
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ412ysROjjW
The outside looked decent—almost classy.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEUeKzrTm4
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwToh2hCjjJ
The bed sheets had holes in them.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTNfbQg4ZL
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cujRhlDAZ
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?55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNldZzlGcM6
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvlpHFovwC
I had my stuffed animals.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wL3fHgp1f
And for the first time in a long while...55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiZKTAWQ2W
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.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLLPj6yqOm
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,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CYThmJUFJ
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjkbXkAqGM
But bitter?55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Zsl4keDZc
Twisted by anger?55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfvuECfgys
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.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPugyC2fgPy
I don’t wonder. I understand.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWm9tSp1se
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4IrzEQApg
God saw me in my Egypt.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxOHKXfFsL
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMWzTsvczk
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjCoZrhwe7
Before I ever called His name.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcipGUI6vyi
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijEED8ccWs
And that’s why I’m telling this story.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLQEAY84cb
Because I want someone reading this to realize:55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWr8k7uxbk
He sees you too.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknLrVDxZ0W
55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDhyGxs3t2
55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqBYtJ8590
