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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hPvIgmwPk
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfKfxtHLY3
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYxHYLj0Zk
“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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PNnvFX24K
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjhZTDeWSD4
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCr7qqFw56
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zFZiXKPQU
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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbObvCw0hE
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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdy4Y1wmUbz
She had to report every penny.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjRxIdTHKD
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFej95I05GS
They didn’t do it because it was easy.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGtwWZ1kCw
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ71Rdhq2td
I had a home.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RdROYcvPz
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk91u2KqQXD
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gXTS3OQfl
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6GPipHF4v
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7h6mc456H7
The outside looked decent—almost classy.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8SHnHvy0R
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsPY7ac8bm
The bed sheets had holes in them.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aqMuR3YFj
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAE2IR1EnpE
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?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fyqYxCqxp
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAu9V5IhKU
I had my stuffed animals.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIShk34AZ94
And for the first time in a long while...111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtXJQjY5I6
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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3LMXlY0bI
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,111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwLPon9SZm
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0Pjnx31wh
But bitter?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIiV2sNlch
Twisted by anger?111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzLa85EkEQ
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.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCYepmxUzA
I don’t wonder. I understand.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2qnQneKIg
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRDbPSUE2m
God saw me in my Egypt.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIGBprb7aqR
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nvrfjAT5e
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJYs74dAHo
Before I ever called His name.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGc99PwgmaM
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjNVIVdyGI
And that’s why I’m telling this story.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHX1caMY6V
Because I want someone reading this to realize:111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYdsiK2tul
He sees you too.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNElHS3V930
111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8Xt4iD7fx
111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jrTuEOshh
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