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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfmRFARZjF
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz702wA6Pv1
And I said, “No.”98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Xnhf7MKDI
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTw7mT2Gtrk
“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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiqWxiC45r
“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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyA65xQNy4
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1k2JeQ2un
“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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4iDRdBV3A
“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:98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgWEGk0t9T
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGljJGx6IPJ
Nope.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieLkSbC7MR
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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiBjTDghJH
“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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfnWhwYLlj
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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjlcArcYb6
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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAm7EIuQVh
“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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUI4kLCs5zp
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoUwT9q55A
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,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjywzoAEFIT
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfKFSpUKSs
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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFV3kfWsGV
98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBrzfESW7B
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1MkCQLIcx
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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFsTpq69si
Next minute, they were across the room.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHoZVP3ii1
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqqeR882n2
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsdS0pj4QI
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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSM3j1u8txS
But one thing’s for sure:98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVB9rVRLG9q
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCuBUWsPtE
98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSn6rDNK8Nv
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x8ypsT5QH
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3hwc6itUr
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—98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMOz8UFP9z
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUCjvcimu4
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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlYWconkHt
Even when I didn’t understand it.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgA7WjjoXy
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeba5UiX8Q
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xWzlG4B3Y
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9pPs19cbs
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9faiosgb9
They were adventures.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1IulEz6yR
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGTjDCymlv
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.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXKlm4gWde
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlsy4avnTs
and came up with something new—98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnv5wDXDDH
a heart learning to follow Jesus.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqUYL3bXQG
98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZRkUlj1S1
