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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7z3TZyUpJQ
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVAjVEaw53
And I said, “No.”73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdG4BkiIWnA
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxQwmuEYG1
“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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLXjlM4jos
“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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXk01VP3NmF
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtt1BA2p6hz
“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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wuOsjYfZI
“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:73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFcHuxizn3A
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuFDxbRex7
Nope.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoAUf1kRds
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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vS0QQi2QB
“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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyKg894QY1
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYUR97VQvN
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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZSPxdl3cC
“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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmkriyfCQe
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfU4UmpVYaP
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,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8Ks9aEEG9
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhS3acvFrn2
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE2fkiceDo
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYe7X7fF9t
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtY2GcpkJB5
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWq9GuJXELN
Next minute, they were across the room.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGaboPz1W6
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTmqkI8Gvd
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NhU0fA589
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC58VTpMFlv
But one thing’s for sure:73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B3TDJP9f7
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtRSBhnVwt
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPb9afEGHqv
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0keLWjPUx0
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKscXsoImfi
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—73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zIgsf6x42
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjh6gOWVOpa
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SqTkr3QYB
Even when I didn’t understand it.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8Iy7F7UeE
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRD3HdIwiz
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdLVIHT9Ml
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZonytHCCQR
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1eLmX6YEl
They were adventures.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlaOkSbCTgR
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlAXJcA2Nc
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiTuxJQg7y
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QT5nFipoi
and came up with something new—73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wJbQqCbcn
a heart learning to follow Jesus.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavUQ5yYkxe
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBp0f1wAVMq
