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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOE0UEVgW62
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jRffS6mtC
And I said, “No.”17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHRZHYbn6w
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EVaTb3IAj
“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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxpVU03TaS
“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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZJDYf2BN6
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWKwOHejY2
“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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwMfU9QA6i
“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:17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1D53HgMl07
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdu0g0GpvA
Nope.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxlHIlg5fr
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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloQ28VYPoN
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgv1ma888o
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByI9vooFMC
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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkph58KZge
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAqsYVfh1P
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuWvz4RMGe
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,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn13ZLmS2H
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmyggoFCRR
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBC7r1ffF0Y
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGdXNQhU1q
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLizgt4f5Xu
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjwseycJC6
Next minute, they were across the room.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeat5qVJEQ
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37hXxMKxiF
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4D2qO4kl7G
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQq8P0VrJ0W
But one thing’s for sure:17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhN2xiZISGP
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgGFmz1gGH
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoJELVdpV8
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmJcopGAut
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswBv5G06wA
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—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOZaKspRzT
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQLqP9alkt
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURCGJRZSjw
Even when I didn’t understand it.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLxK7Len7k
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzYVsWIjiR
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWKqdwmKyA
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qmFNN39og
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUcLQKYNDU
They were adventures.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIHQMLzZR8
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9S8QW4WpIk
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLoNhUXFXik
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQSreWV9je
and came up with something new—17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYQYq3NhCr
a heart learning to follow Jesus.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWsAlcWzjD
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFp4of0HKMf
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