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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArqHyPlSgQ
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqMwPyVaK5
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1R8YJXzYo
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhi8SKpAbJ
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphMvrFtDOE
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2yjRy9Jtv
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lM0ceV8z0
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHOruHTOSu
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mz1UX5W18
She had to report every penny.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53sPFXpjiR
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfWY3kjKjA
They didn’t do it because it was easy.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqgo9Do0iK
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPS8CmcgfNM
I had a home.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLDZuubr2A
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKo0LcU28e9
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvffNNaW5he
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfitOExfPC
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL45XC4l2eN
The outside looked decent—almost classy.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLfzxIy3BH
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQt8PaF9jsv
The bed sheets had holes in them.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTplw5OBeXN
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4I2aRqqYu0
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?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoBltUAjNy
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxNIWZAAws
I had my stuffed animals.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKTJDMRvjd
And for the first time in a long while...17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKG1xOsWTdR
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VBXn0D45w
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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQupVSmJGes
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OwGDQPAF9
But bitter?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi412ntMg5z
Twisted by anger?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYUzc91SHV
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6AXt3aTib
I don’t wonder. I understand.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTeRb4zlXR
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgPHxRSO0z
God saw me in my Egypt.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYyfWv7GC0
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArncIM9i7F
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAbrFsQfJQ
Before I ever called His name.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSJgcXkXFA
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gtKT0qoI0
And that’s why I’m telling this story.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrMbc3u576
Because I want someone reading this to realize:17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5RJg1v3sW
He sees you too.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4la9UrRl9y
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ302Ux5nEoY
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tJb6MkcsL
