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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZGDItMtm7
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJRMt38FfZ
And I said, “No.”87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgHTRTTC8q
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgvA2PArHX
“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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWv0v9X4cwz
“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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPCJjOLbc8
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzAXNd78Uc
“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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPgMOWEWz4
“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:87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8O6Q5YVM2n
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1rq8iON0y
Nope.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDFTfew5xs
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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuHuCH3SdH
“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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTMm8zdG6O
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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QH9jPEpDq
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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vkBgaiIIR
“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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4PyqdE8St
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnMtJhgGLG
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,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5o0ZO4wL6
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEshgFSp19g
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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs208M4Wjw3
87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgDQPNsDRl
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplc69dEsat
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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU97dgvZTF1
Next minute, they were across the room.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cO2rZ1fEG
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKe5Ldw8i5T
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyvT4cx6vQ
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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAZMhEagu3
But one thing’s for sure:87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxWkcR2Y6J
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQImtW5rAr
87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhiqYUuCet
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelBr9Iij3W
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTN3nI3nCEk
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—87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZoEKSdxoP
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTknupnctC
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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZTp0rpdaR
Even when I didn’t understand it.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoIl4K9mXe
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYulGLDV1Kl
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iE2RLuf2S
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiavkO2wSQ
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQ6R4FogzL
They were adventures.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQFm9GINrc
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNks3Hbrr6L
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.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVqJKLJKwH
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYxDwGyJRN
and came up with something new—87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkcO9N8d2D
a heart learning to follow Jesus.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpTPK6toLO
87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqM1T7biaE
and then Add to home screen.