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.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9BUXqeQ3X
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGQIiMJxAn
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IXHqXw0xm
“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.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCa5ANkNSYy
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkg9mZwYtpp
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJDhKmpJEq
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRD4CE09wuy
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.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sB5SZgCkn
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.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOsRRSunsZ
She had to report every penny.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvipLQZ5iBR
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPWTD8zThA
They didn’t do it because it was easy.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Nh2OAYRcS
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJe73WVdqcJ
I had a home.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NqrtMMAOX
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLq3zOzKMbn
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXZJhfz4BZ
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrzWDjLxB3
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDLrI10KxV
The outside looked decent—almost classy.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6AsVym9Sw
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSLP4THwN5
The bed sheets had holes in them.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8Tuh90yyi
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEe6hLZdEw
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?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb47DKhTsQP
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslWeskztlN
I had my stuffed animals.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB15qkZFSMH
And for the first time in a long while...92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQDM2wMeYM
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.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aY0ZxjGdQ
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,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRfykfsm38
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLx2UnCagVv
But bitter?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagaEdg3hxe
Twisted by anger?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnn1YULjw8
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.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa83yQHXklp
I don’t wonder. I understand.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeg3aUZgav
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiwspQiOsL
God saw me in my Egypt.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXb5Tx94Hx
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLkbGWueSA
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAK8hlbW3Ne
Before I ever called His name.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EQoXwJ56G
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WAiPiSr0x
And that’s why I’m telling this story.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRr4IjHwkHB
Because I want someone reading this to realize:92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGa9HrXSRE
He sees you too.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMAtUuKU1f
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6xqHbjfYx
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlivnIyfZyT
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