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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSQOLtsHh4
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnLOk2B7SV
And I said, “No.”148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahylZSRmRX
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajxF5nklpj
“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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzckxax9pR
“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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8SxdrLtBH
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0e3HB0P8W
“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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHkmOkvjvh
“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:148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc4koVfaeH
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDvzFfYD0T
Nope.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfvtaibSCY
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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEwWkrPk5g
“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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2c1HBi0g2O
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfy6mwz6rj
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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkC5V0KQ9aT
“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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiHFgoOSZv
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPLj16jbMp
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,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjemMRhQdbE
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2tgycZfhH
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2L7SN1il42
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1LJV1YYLn
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8Es3BrcVV
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzkcuDaDEU
Next minute, they were across the room.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoamD3oCa6N
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdYlhNEDnS
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJzEyN8aSB
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRtNJBpK7e
But one thing’s for sure:148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNPrPzOGts
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqCI71akjJ
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtpges5N7M
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2SfWstnuC
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLB9RaD2l5C
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—148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Y7Hh4kXgi
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPHIcJZxSc
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXZxtk9GSP
Even when I didn’t understand it.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHJ10TxYU7
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVrSQyEydi
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡss9OmtG0LZ
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmsO7cw253
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YZ4MSZHRn
They were adventures.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvtaqkdKU5
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JyvmKCAow
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFUNUf8PKO
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aA6NBKjrK
and came up with something new—148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZFipqi0TM
a heart learning to follow Jesus.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHBCVkYCFl
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyyeTWCS1P
