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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4cLcKs0Gm
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLNA5g7WiQ
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsp8yVGJW3
“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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5NL0fJyvq
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYn1F7SSMZ
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbxw2rrM7E
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EqzegUwKh
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7wtbkZxAW
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbaYqdfUQN
She had to report every penny.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYbZwBM5H4
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkjreSEXju
They didn’t do it because it was easy.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBl2YUEF3fY
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWknrpTT2q
I had a home.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHWExFgGAL
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYG2atNglJ
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61YLGoUbuB
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrW5vArBCq
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlQLQo2R0b
The outside looked decent—almost classy.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeYMpuW20J
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87K5SrD1Hj
The bed sheets had holes in them.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouTcRV8ajE
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYiZ9KAXEU
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?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jlJM1KzcB
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡog1XFAquYH
I had my stuffed animals.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPYSZACjRA
And for the first time in a long while...18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aydJr1ksP
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12Em1hyEjP
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,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2KsmItMbX
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8dyiK46KC
But bitter?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjb6qL6Es8m
Twisted by anger?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBs4B8TQgQ
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfQ4f39itr
I don’t wonder. I understand.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHESgijH3X
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0B4cp7cniO
God saw me in my Egypt.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrP5cxmgdAH
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JWPVmTfbY
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0D8BUnesFU
Before I ever called His name.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡee5JGfILjc
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfBIvrVTYOf
And that’s why I’m telling this story.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6G5PkTgpO
Because I want someone reading this to realize:18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUwd3VPy9d
He sees you too.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscOpGSA8zO
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusZFtvM0e0
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthiEhk2SR5
