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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUfve7odro
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nuOQRoql4
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoM5yruDGRu
“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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIsXdaw7ae
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9pOND7qKs
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5mN5d5eev
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhJG06nYnb
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYGdk8cNtM
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJyL0WeJGY
She had to report every penny.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnO4gPucr9
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXInOgGUdQ
They didn’t do it because it was easy.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Rk5hMO0Ud
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSC0L1vOC3X
I had a home.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTizTSuvNki
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSALGC7X1vS
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczFRMN0HcB
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcUOOEHiDq
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRInjQgKiQa
The outside looked decent—almost classy.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lX4tvIc2g
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RHdXqhtUz
The bed sheets had holes in them.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIWVEomzxY
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6xOlRQIgs
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?133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvbntiTFTe
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1yHFzh6PY
I had my stuffed animals.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL3hTNQNlpA
And for the first time in a long while...133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrR1dXgPxDu
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgis56xW4Cu
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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFRpqGwLTL
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAoYjx2WXDa
But bitter?133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb72BCzq1RI
Twisted by anger?133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NDQOQQyRI
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykTuDgSHNT
I don’t wonder. I understand.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPhR5k4420
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9XUYBE6Kk
God saw me in my Egypt.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4Os1l9LVx
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjrPbZkA6N
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrxopnhJWCh
Before I ever called His name.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgvEWTWgNs
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HVHvl1PpQ
And that’s why I’m telling this story.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IsizVojV8
Because I want someone reading this to realize:133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡag0uEM7Mwp
He sees you too.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbenhchJrq0
133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucx7iWDISq
133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFzJ9Xgdj9
