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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dxBHm9i2k
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaojni6VasF
And I said, “No.”133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblULCVw1wD
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFWZuPsOeJ
“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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfhSoHNj4G
“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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1JF1YMZPE
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWp3otPI4a2
“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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mbADmSM99
“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:133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykodwwhf28
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08JQleKH04
Nope.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97jVsLer19
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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt432fLDjky
“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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEEf5IJNdL
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bQsNSXk9e
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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0YrX9usAx
“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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrGki8fkZi
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iFkjvxIWB
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,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMw22ot44g
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3KJpDaXyd
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GABqnQuu1
133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpGOCeYl2m
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmu2zxnrRx
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJyDEcuAJc
Next minute, they were across the room.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUF2iNZFyC
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIQSswrdNQ
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkrXf3yyVu
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFC0xNHns9I
But one thing’s for sure:133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEHJHPZL9G
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMA2KM9gm2
133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLYhaUTE68
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Jxi6utkti
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v8xc3fI7C
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—133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPZ7xQu5Sq
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLltHNiLRdV
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8F0XYsEC66
Even when I didn’t understand it.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sw3DRzwI4
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4LP6PTshT
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjet4srQ9c
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPMFIxJUvM
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9E7NHCrHS
They were adventures.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoxI8Qfyk2
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkInHkmPmY
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.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4K0mjZu1Rs
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9fRz5ZcDR
and came up with something new—133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIrOHwNtYP
a heart learning to follow Jesus.133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2F0XepN70E
133Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHl0f8XcWxq
