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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15k8oYPq8D
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqwgZzCc8G
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWG5idENJH
“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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIa8oJ99fX4
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8gYd3hE2k
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnfiSmSSLN
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCetuETVAo
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefu4P4ycfw
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYacmD6vk5
She had to report every penny.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7P4IoPvEY
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfWmukAlT7
They didn’t do it because it was easy.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvF1O5hIxr
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxNm8SUhU9
I had a home.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzyxP8O0WG
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFQKVxdZvg
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡup6PANF1si
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgdcvhDG0W
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3X9mRa90a
The outside looked decent—almost classy.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHSNmzfXEu
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65xwetSN1u
The bed sheets had holes in them.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGBE6sJRpd
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5Pv5Wvc4S
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?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC419J7Xg6O
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXRErOMxQ3
I had my stuffed animals.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkezrOJ5htS
And for the first time in a long while...99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXiDUKd9xp
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwJDlzBa17
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,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEyhNIuFLq
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XVDOEX5ow
But bitter?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6i9UGarRVZ
Twisted by anger?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpiKy7yKOf
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZVe0KBj0w
I don’t wonder. I understand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6t1ZVMC35B
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5Y6bHRnm7
God saw me in my Egypt.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcMk2xITJq
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5tkzBhZjq
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyx6t1hlYR
Before I ever called His name.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOriKUJsbE3
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKxWHb1hBm
And that’s why I’m telling this story.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIrCWLxwAS
Because I want someone reading this to realize:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMudTvIA80
He sees you too.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7rB5OgMaX
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWS71cu6nN
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkAuIRQy7C
