Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ron took me home just as winter was setting in.
Now, keep in mind—I’m a little Southern boy, born and raised where snow is about as common as a unicorn sighting. So when I first saw snow, I had no clue what it was.
I still had a pretty good vocabulary back then—way beyond what most kids could dream of.
One time, years later, I was hanging out with my mom, and she asked me,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTQW4TaaK8
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpocIZ0PePk
And I said, “No.”155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEXvCsN7qt
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwwPJFYPc3
“Am I Mr. Congeniality?”
That’s when I realized: I had a vocabulary most kids could only dream about.
So, when we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and Grandpa tried to put me down in the snow, I wasn’t about to let that happen without a fight.
I looked at him and said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmacDNF9dGp
“No! You ain’t puttin’ me down in that bird poop. Ew!”
Snow might have been a mystery, but some things—even at two years old—were crystal clear.
Grandpa looked at me and said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODjY0ncI5A
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfrKzyWJwd
“Don’t care. Ew! Don’t know what that stuff is.”
But of course, they sat me down in it anyway.
I put my hand on the snow. It was cold. Real cold. Like, why cold?
I ran straight to the back door, shivering and not looking back.
Grandma still has that sign on her back porch that says,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsp2rfbDrgZ
“Backdoor Guests Are Best.”
Guess even back then, I wasn’t just any guest—I was family.
I guess even back then, I wasn’t exactly a guest.
Now, I’m not going to go over every little “evil” thing I did while living with my grandparents—that would take forever.
But I will tell you this:155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVpt4nOk4L
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqjCp1AnDg
Nope.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2mGfsONVv
I just didn’t want to do chores.
I had gotten this little plastic cow on a leash for Christmas, and I took him with me when I went over to the next-door neighbor’s house.
We called her Grandma Coe—because that’s just what you do in the South.
Grandma Coe looked at me and said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgpieN32dt
“Darlin’, you can’t stay here. You gotta go back to your Grandma’s.”
So she called ahead, and Grandma Lou was waiting.
When I saw Grandma Lou, spanked me on the botom, and then I said if you spank me you gotta spank cow he 's my cacomplis. if that cow could talk it would have said, snitches get stiches.
The next year, I went to two weeks of preschool summer camp at the Indiana School for the Blind.
Now, I gotta tell you—there was a pool at Sals Park, and I got dunked by an older student.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcDlNdza6u
Almost drowned twice.
Yeah, not exactly the best swim lessons ever.
But other than that, it was a good time.
After camp, I started kindergarten at Lambert Hall at the Indiana School for the Blind.
My kindergarten teacher was Miss Francoviac.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBzGNYiU9m
She was patient and kind—exactly what a little blind kid like me needed to start figuring things out.
So, the first week at school, they had this giant snake pillow in our classroom.
I asked if it had a name.
Miss Warren, our class aide, said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKEb1b6WPt
“No, it doesn’t have a name. Why don’t you name it?”
Well, the week before school started, I’d had a Faygo Redpop soda.
And that snake pillow was bright red—just like my soda.
So I named it Redpop.
And just like that, Redpop the snake became part of the class.
Miss Murray was the boss of our house parents.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTbOefMBga
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g4ndVA8Mk
She actually played with us kids.
One time, she took us for a ride on this old horse wagon. We were laughing, bouncing around, having the time of our lives.
But after a while, she stopped and said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUARTG3aPM
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIm8ttXSPnW
This is a horse buggy, not a Miss Murray buggy!”
We groaned and begged for one more ride, but she just laughed that Miss Murray laugh and helped us all down.
She had that perfect balance: fun like a big sister, firm like a momma, and always looking out for us.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7Nvdb4OkB
155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpuspyiD0MP
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEFJwPOlCV
And sometimes... she had jokes.
There was this one time—she kept playing pranks on me.
She had these little toy R2-D2s, you know, the beeping robot from Star Wars.
Well, somehow those things kept moving.
One minute they were on the shelf.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvkwaVDlus
Next minute, they were across the room.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrRLQUeLob
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrsrB2Qgfb
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwB7d4MnM6
Just casual ghost robots, no big deal.
I was half creeped out, half laughing—and 100% convinced that R2-D2 had joined the paranormal.
To this day, I’m still not sure how she pulled it off.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkXoAYYMjE
But one thing’s for sure:155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBGkcciKX9
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzu6iPvz6s
155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwWGedWrm4
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxxOaVBHf3
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJGgCnJwAF
They didn’t want to throw me into first grade, not when they knew I’d stick out and likely get picked on.
So they suggested I retake kindergarten.
Not because I couldn’t handle the work—155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeGXrY3TFq
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynGY6guSVG
But at the time, it felt like I got held back for something I couldn’t control.
That was one of the first times I realized that being different—really different—was going to come with some extra hurdles.
But God still had me in His hands, even then.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLXKkXjwsq
Even when I didn’t understand it.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7wMBNGtI3
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTDD4MHXhv
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cyzs5ZkXc
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd620DBdI9C
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFvDg2FYBl
They were adventures.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSh6tBw2tbq
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9IKhPG7iI
and in every one of them, God was there.
That summer, I gave my life to Jesus.
I was baptized in a swimming pool, since our church didn’t have a baptismal.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTIsvZR2Ox
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfpMr9cGMp
and came up with something new—155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqIJqe9uVT
a heart learning to follow Jesus.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpGdr2duY5
155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDK22PDMwr
