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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3wcehMP8w
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GpFFlp5NO
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ncY44av9V
“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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllBBeUFGXd
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOjhAoDVs4
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQVZ9qxWpK
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyWs9RMXpT
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5YSz7KQRN
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopvcbUjSjx
She had to report every penny.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC14ZPvDaoq
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOfnHChioQ
They didn’t do it because it was easy.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0BSJo9XXv
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEybvGcPQu
I had a home.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWPVooxZhK
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPKTJIPDiF
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRRES4Ksz7
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqdAukiL42
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLebExiVuti
The outside looked decent—almost classy.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlmViFzWT1
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlerL7gshmB
The bed sheets had holes in them.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvaIq9zPFP
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJWmjbUdEF
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?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHbduHaFr5
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndFbGZeXnm
I had my stuffed animals.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPt0rDQdxh
And for the first time in a long while...21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0JVN9XHH4
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RCHZw5fut
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,21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q7aeAE4Xo
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGzxUcCVxI
But bitter?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVxjObqahc
Twisted by anger?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaN0GeHX3I
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.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyWit32Vtv
I don’t wonder. I understand.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc13OrfOvr
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAsVkqrqWy
God saw me in my Egypt.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXymdpXT5d
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSo2OoT4g3j
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmb6vJUziy
Before I ever called His name.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjc1Eel8QMi
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Fw6dLFExH
And that’s why I’m telling this story.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq45htyTImc
Because I want someone reading this to realize:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAhUGjDE62
He sees you too.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOpGkFxVdC
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgCPe0aB2x
21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmgurrq3Lg
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