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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvjLXDRmBl
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLc08vUuef
And I said, “No.”113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFMqpxowHn
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96eN2pUVAx
“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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaSStq8UYV
“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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHOJg3qUnZ
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XuhieZQBW
“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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmcXKSan8U
“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:113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1IKRNtZ5f
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmZM0Zk4zG
Nope.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkLh0dj6VD
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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYd2cbNpqJp
“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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYCB2KS3Wc
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZaaiclb9C
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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJRrPCiUaN
“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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nYWPoE2Ho
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XNatPjdC4
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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUxsxrHtHU
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefhLDn3ZWw
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOCGE1W11S
113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DddJrWENg
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2uQr0WOuX
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhyafD99b8
Next minute, they were across the room.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdjiC3fzHu
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIL7SKoy3pk
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDArd2J2vb5
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrA1IBhCYW
But one thing’s for sure:113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52YsvW1jW2
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCJsaYkmPV
113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmT9340RZh
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCaE5mwhRB
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhg4sKghjYi
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—113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtzabtVRJS
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9oyfx4IQK
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDFWWpRICH
Even when I didn’t understand it.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV9qXobs78
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FdPWadNHd
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtULOyRLQQu
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiOjBYc3Q7
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfHaEblrES
They were adventures.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZz93Mgje2e
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEsBvVFSAN
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxdSzMBRGW
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3p9RpHvZAx
and came up with something new—113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhWeHFGycb
a heart learning to follow Jesus.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAU8Cji7y9O
113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjy3LzCSqeF
