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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSije7KOUFc
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZ24caK9NS
And I said, “No.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPIzACUpXV
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5H5Mwit8gn
“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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jRjQUGCrT
“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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYysDcDk4b
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSREDh1fj2H
“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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPhk71iU4V
“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:70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ24krMZ6kp
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8R2S2wJaiV
Nope.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmXSQdOPMS
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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jPLkF22uh
“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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGnhcXSH4o
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizFqGw0Xur
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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMVYbBB00W
“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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1blMlr342
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJYlK4HsbJ
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,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6Ls5UWUOF
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbBm3yf3jG
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HhEl1hwLC
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOc1AIChteM
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lLe3bLDq5
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGD4zqLrwYw
Next minute, they were across the room.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKCm0Xfx3J
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2sDZRChC9
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUH3mREPeE
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc6930CzAJ
But one thing’s for sure:70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwlzYyd6gY
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqR8ZMwQXQ
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZIERg5iT8
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqDvP4Xh5m
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSupTx74cB4
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—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYR2V3sOc34
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4DYWcNBae
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoihfUl2fHt
Even when I didn’t understand it.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAE1honetNk
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlIBM4aBBH
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFxAU7rOQp
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ejcze6GFv
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SgLpQhEdB
They were adventures.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ixCpAQNk2
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2On5bPWOzv
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUSuK1nwBf
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzukg0GbNL
and came up with something new—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWK2FiKvJr
a heart learning to follow Jesus.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoK4yJvo4q
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwxemC5NV5
