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.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOB5d2IP1o
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrG336T8mao
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyRonbaRYB
“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.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9T0dzRaRx
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthrG68JfIW
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQjYu2BBpm
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00MzziqHP6
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.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcpr6rRkFE
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.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOXkD6AxIO
She had to report every penny.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7rF94Kgkq
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHab77X9oHT
They didn’t do it because it was easy.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mIrDtUHtt
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8oGvRJBuW
I had a home.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvgsN5mC7P
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4evzga4xl
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ724LmNM7dy
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdb6xNpl2xu
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1FZ9GEOod
The outside looked decent—almost classy.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfKTydBVtx
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUpk2Ldwgt
The bed sheets had holes in them.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegGtRspBkB
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPHuTV5YNx
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?153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiIVEr8wa8
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgrzBINt14
I had my stuffed animals.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqpDw35uxv
And for the first time in a long while...153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe36Gc8VaMI
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.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z0OezyPwl
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,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CN9v7Xr3M
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZV3ALFaGby
But bitter?153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLpDJiUmXm
Twisted by anger?153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0IBP8d9t7
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.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7PPh35Ufj
I don’t wonder. I understand.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Y8bTnjB1S
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpyXT3d7q8
God saw me in my Egypt.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgIqph8Yi5k
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7IALR6mvZ
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9kngWWFBx
Before I ever called His name.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9cWfihz34
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jml6yLcFF
And that’s why I’m telling this story.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGGB01HCDt
Because I want someone reading this to realize:153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4s20eC44h
He sees you too.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0a3LmRMyk
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dMRc1tymr
153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFqSpk6J9Y
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