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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsDQcTg6M8
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2Gcxxg6pB
And I said, “No.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuS0QYOoJ9
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjXCIZpcqG
“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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZy7W2Y2HWF
“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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ563lUDqqnb
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiehsStuQC
“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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZBCszJdT2
“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:34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3dVv3PES5
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagumwNmyHU
Nope.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrZ5edUqCh
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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwPc71tAVh
“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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvveNMq90O
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WxQZNXLG9
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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZMCkq771R
“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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxbLmtsOGK
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9PysQWegW
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,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBn3Z46HUX
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Bfdu3srFn
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD70LTgRCL
34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTSgOuOBbt
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzUei9IgGn
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gEVlhlOID
Next minute, they were across the room.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7je7baSCN
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujzh4RyXLk
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKE4EDf2Bu
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHdKXEC23V
But one thing’s for sure:34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28ZWbc3thX
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmW6fouLXr
34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYMezkrzsD
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59F99RiF1n
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnMgZpjlaz
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—34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7sBhb158m
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2x0gWRJ8Oe
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGDqibhRlx
Even when I didn’t understand it.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDd2TgzRI1O
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24Ae78DuKP
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpAG2IMsg5
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqJQsY5GMc
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcH0zFjJBK5
They were adventures.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3loM1xWzlk
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoGo8AnhQH
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFlb33bnvF
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjhFkkcO5Q5
and came up with something new—34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfyBB6zAhr
a heart learning to follow Jesus.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVd23usjNR2
34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vUHqtEJRq
