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.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdS4LDqhtHa
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIFuYK6pvU
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgirWidxQvM
“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.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5laLWTFw1
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeheH5VSCaO
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtSF70he33
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBLLlRL45S
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.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy20nXjTCcd
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.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUYQryYXbw
She had to report every penny.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7io8mEmAbk
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhsFYIaz6V
They didn’t do it because it was easy.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeL6B4sT1j
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13oExN5DVE
I had a home.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgAkZJPTZM
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WIlwmGiTA
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8S0thriTt2
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0nlK5aK7S
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTWbQo6OBL
The outside looked decent—almost classy.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28cHCqzUie
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gR16Kp9cI
The bed sheets had holes in them.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dnUqd4fw4
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWwdaEKPdf
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?103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUEFQB0JZb
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKT46pizWb
I had my stuffed animals.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsH0GBDN2Xi
And for the first time in a long while...103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcThMI40AV
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.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYIoL4kvH6
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,103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4HKXl3GY8
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5byYzBeH9d
But bitter?103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6TLr0fUU1
Twisted by anger?103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1d3Z7B5l2
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.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOGlkelFY3
I don’t wonder. I understand.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5mtMkqO2Y
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNGite0is9
God saw me in my Egypt.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLQxvtytHU
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8tqhw2DPi
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgnzFlFvJS
Before I ever called His name.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4X0kBjXMC
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTCz1ToQPm
And that’s why I’m telling this story.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzaiLv6gWlP
Because I want someone reading this to realize:103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbiM5GJuIR
He sees you too.103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJWv89g4ac
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMs6GvfzeOe
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNg6AKGITN
