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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKWFFVsjYU
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu79He1dNis
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4ghMbGK7C
“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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NWDoLeH8L
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9u3r5ZPZxy
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWcJMnLFC8
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVo6XYSQmk
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaFqjhIUvl
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoh3SwwuqI
She had to report every penny.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyF6bAqev7
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDc6aGuhNM
They didn’t do it because it was easy.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5fR2rD36z
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkGGgZvLEj
I had a home.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWhupKxg4g
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkllfUbG2S
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEY9azJjJbY
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzXyny2iRG
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI714tKrXSr
The outside looked decent—almost classy.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1ex5CmFBY
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBpT1t6hjC
The bed sheets had holes in them.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjitFTZESIG
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMwUD8HZaS
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?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLrTsX1FGK
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwbuGpVRJv
I had my stuffed animals.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fbuHhlgzu
And for the first time in a long while...154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9S0X4raun
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooSwXHj818
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,154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWKxHNVDzh
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1j74suUaki
But bitter?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwRE0NEvQA
Twisted by anger?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbw9X7HJKh
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkh2bUERre
I don’t wonder. I understand.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gUWlwwEdx
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthbvyhg7HZ
God saw me in my Egypt.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaX5dg8knkx
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZkrnSOADe
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSkL69i75i
Before I ever called His name.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGEDKPqCj6
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHuHk8WWdK
And that’s why I’m telling this story.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQThz9S3e3C
Because I want someone reading this to realize:154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyKdkQRnRi
He sees you too.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDA9kIsJFLR
154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFWsmqE31O
154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4BDmveYaN
