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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1BEkEigfH
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5bd3Iiyjb
And I said, “No.”20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXxvfSKo6e
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaUBLgCwHk
“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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRO4Ht5a1ol
“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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZJaKx9Cbw
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSe45s6yTk
“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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9rX8lWOPI
“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:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nEOXWVqmh
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNaB1INrri
Nope.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0i28OxpD13
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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DcKeaUKAq
“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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Sc6cKmjeI
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B6V5E1TFQ
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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoJ3uXQ3lX
“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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhctsAcPQh
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23njnYnlHp
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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdWNEvQUx9
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6H9KqCYKOK
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEPen80lxcg
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8dJGWBorl
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Dyg41oewD
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWvkSxRPvP
Next minute, they were across the room.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOe1gn10WzH
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohtSSzi1JE
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIDdTaevaD
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmfBOvikVj
But one thing’s for sure:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKqPls2Gj1
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAATdTrkjy0
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gVtdm1H47
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MR6wxEJX9
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjwWAx85ef
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—20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG02CBVhoIx
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlfrlmdX54
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTXt0sh02q
Even when I didn’t understand it.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJ0Z3E08Pu
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡox9V9bDJYP
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEX5NjkIR2
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngAH1ounRC
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlwtM3hBWK
They were adventures.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxbbk8lo6Y
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6kXcWdcp7
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqDA3ePUgm
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9nHRZjoss
and came up with something new—20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmMNFuoNyJ
a heart learning to follow Jesus.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiD4W6wA0O
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXptkEjNhbm
