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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAiL4LAQkb
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10yhrIGqDU
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyYVJE5dyz
“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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUHpv1wIX8
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzLouBQgrd
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1cdcGmIGA
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0xAGeZG4N
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZxCxaNpcy
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyRi2QOBro
She had to report every penny.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwU6IV5zj0
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaFvwqOigQ
They didn’t do it because it was easy.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sa7Ng8opA
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKtlOwIi8y
I had a home.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5DWV7kQCv
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9IEGRkt4o
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbY3magtGrA
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONI2mCStSG
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXS545OmS9k
The outside looked decent—almost classy.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXazJjEnzy9
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxdg15dtV2
The bed sheets had holes in them.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkOte0kUQd
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwu5UryAYdT
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?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53yzD2D0td
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lGcqm6Ix7
I had my stuffed animals.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAnOfxuCF9
And for the first time in a long while...108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5hpupz2NH
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3g6TFRdHWv
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,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE628XjSKSc
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJaKW8GgBu
But bitter?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWB3GsFRRU
Twisted by anger?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFZcf3hRME
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgPxOWi3SL
I don’t wonder. I understand.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ727nwkyfd4
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhAMlkpPRU
God saw me in my Egypt.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0TQl8hmSs
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaXMnqpoXX
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7Jrfaa2Ab
Before I ever called His name.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡez7AiQLca8
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJVQjdiUy7
And that’s why I’m telling this story.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkfAx8gjAH
Because I want someone reading this to realize:108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJERz0Y5I5
He sees you too.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLofDmNPXtN
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMzKipHlSB
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxc8VUYykc
and then Add to home screen.