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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrKej7WDL1
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyj7eMvkwc
And I said, “No.”51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilvVMSnFPj
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7VNTKtVrQ
“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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6By0qfktR
“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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKT7I59nv7H
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPG9WyvEyT1
“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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjeXTdiHGw
“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:51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKi8oKVcruM
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDNJp5SWAB
Nope.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgY1o0Sh9U
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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXq5vcfbiKD
“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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCHFvyGjG4
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8s2Luxf7y
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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06qK86bqmP
“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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoF5GTHxoQp
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yvXzwOAep
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,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaGbpgbdmM
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OTK7mSuhi
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOMb6bgtDf
51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ktGObKs2q
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9bpNDhsAg
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93rb48bXwP
Next minute, they were across the room.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jJsevOSeM
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVWhV5S4vN
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfv9iwIot6q
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCy12H4XDq2
But one thing’s for sure:51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGcUNcwPxW
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkN4CPm8N3q
51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUp9iahPLS
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7xYkGBG62
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3rQoJrNe3
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—51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7lSaBsFSd
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJs5XWdPV3X
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEODjMHgxd2
Even when I didn’t understand it.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVceDKNhOk
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVrsgYtu7E
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35VhE4HVsl
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKlO4eIbKr
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7p1eTSpw0
They were adventures.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOunQ9OmlKc
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjiPYiuGfs
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.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLx158L17J
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i15XgLsYW
and came up with something new—51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LlXawvWeS
a heart learning to follow Jesus.51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSc9jD4MBk4
51Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4E042DXFm
