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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWyDEUVppx
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsMH5TWDmV
And I said, “No.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1l04cogP0Z
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSP7sCPcZR
“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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fQo5DAbej
“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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb02F5ycjjr
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRL7b6sysA
“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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulNUIUBK7T
“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:22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sKlgvul4x
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0cHk5sTdA
Nope.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeZLMCWVBw
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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugdZOILpcb
“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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdey2bnaBEj
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3LgzywTqr
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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ680nYivMLV
“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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDjNf5r5Jp
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRIgk06Oc7
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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWZsefniSo
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HdkqpnXuF
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbjb9yCZva
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPO1k130sWv
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUBV5GS7pL
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOXslP6f5F
Next minute, they were across the room.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8atDAF4Um4
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVdsI3hNd3
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hq3J8bzg3
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIb4KtcnGE
But one thing’s for sure:22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEvzmhSnKU
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBqsE0B2OO
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft4stRDHJd
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yXajPVqPO
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27oBd36d0Y
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—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQOI0dwC3U
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnI4q0k6KUl
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaMe4Nn9XS
Even when I didn’t understand it.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVcRWEGzie
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhMgTMkULC
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UAcEi8Z8w
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HcQj8wO3G
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEZkcE4Mgr
They were adventures.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBmhEAvxoO
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIb1dyimz4
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtGrGVKEoK
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgl7HWjHVl
and came up with something new—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2r8OsbYiq
a heart learning to follow Jesus.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbkox7MJLf
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3Us6jZTb1
