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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyVWfnXSIQ
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbT3SfnjEU
And I said, “No.”36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fDEaV7zAW
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNMkYlxnbK
“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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdLAK5fTVL
“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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGE5is4KA5
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPpj0n6y9n
“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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP41GaZXirv
“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:36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFHpJRgObt
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTobfAmjsv
Nope.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4b9IraeK2
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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjmAdq1BUT
“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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZN58B3ktYt
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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgKD2U7f56
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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGmpd6MAF6
“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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0dijsizBE
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUOeKbQTke
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,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qM3tWCefk
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3pyViyxJL
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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlL0OUmenBP
36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubx2iM0N5M
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgf0d3Rrmw
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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sgTX2XPDK
Next minute, they were across the room.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gY7GCStLj
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYQLtYLLyl
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3m0nrG6HF
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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAimybYZeP4
But one thing’s for sure:36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRkpTQzN7e
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlihZwYS9U
36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRJPTfS1PT
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxxUkbE4qL
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJNKVvDCE9
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—36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUSvKeLNWv
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAncW7rekdo
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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NElHQ33Aq
Even when I didn’t understand it.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5AKe2glOW
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkydFwR7eW
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡob2SylRItz
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qlxatwiYE
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBbXlmFxS2
They were adventures.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CNkFwIMGF
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TTa0lGgjj
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.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNF3dC5Ngb
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ181XEEhnIu
and came up with something new—36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnaTzWAAI9
a heart learning to follow Jesus.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsY6nxfNK0o
36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwn0gxNMXz
