Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way

In the spotlight at Madison Square Garden, gazing out at 18,000 screaming fans, all I could see were the exit lights, as pivotal events of my life flashed through my mind.

Carroll Collins, Mama, Patricia, and me. Carroll treated Mama like a queen.

Picture day, and I fell chin-first on a huge rock in the front yard while waiting for the bus to arrive.

Our first and last Merry Christmas living with Carroll in Johnsonville, SC.

I was only seven years old when I experienced the horrors of Vance Street.

Patricia (right) and I were like sister and brother to our foster sister, Tina Miller (left).

One of the many receipts for money orders I sent to Mama while she was behind bars.

Living with Grandpa when Mama was gone, Patricia often played the role of parent.

After Sparkles died, J.R. took her pups to the pound and brought back this newspaper clipping for me.

Ms. Friday (top row, center) was my sixth-grade teacher—twice. With the help of her leather strap, she taught me discipline. She also taught me to journal.

I included my sixth grade progress report in my first CD liner notes.

At my debut CD release party, I saw Ms. Friday for the first time since sixth grade. She stood in line for two hours to surprise me.

As soon as I saw Ms. Friday, I gave her a big hug. She is not merely a teacher; she is an educator. She still keeps in touch with me to this day.

Tim, Mama, me, and Grandpa. I was thirteen in this photo, just before Mama and Tim abandoned me at the Pensacola bus station parking lot in the middle of the night and drove away.

The Trailways bus station parking lot. After I bought this bus ticket, I had twenty-five cents left in my pocket.

I lived at Faith Farm fifteen weeks and a day. I really didn’t want to leave. Mama came to my “victory party” and took me back but abandoned me again. This receipt is for the sleeping bag I purchased when I lived in an old house trailer that had no heat, electricity, or water.

I followed my art teacher’s instructions to paint this piece “upside down.” When I turned it “right side up,” I discovered a beautiful painting of the Outer Banks, which gave me hope that one day my life might turn around and become a beautiful picture too.

I was sixteen when my nephew Brian was born.

Brian came along as a support vehicle driver during my walk halfway across America.

My niece, Charleigh, and I enjoyed a day in Malibu.

By age three Charleigh had already been in three foster homes. Patricia and her husband, Tim Looper, adopted her and became her Bea and Russell.

This is foster care that has come full circle. Charleigh is all about the curls and pearls; she’s a girly girl!

Bea and Russell Costner, the elderly couple who invited me to move in with them as a sixteen-year-old homeless boy. They changed every cell in my body.

Bea and Russell’s house, where I lived for six years.

Bea attended all of my shows—this picture was taken at my first paid event.

A pianist and poet, Bea always encouraged me to pursue my dreams of becoming a musician, but she didn’t live long enough to hear me on the radio or to see me perform on the Grand Ole Opry.

After Russell died, Bea would sit every day in these green chairs facing their woodshop—the chairs are in my home today.

My junior high guidance counselor, Cindy Ballard, refused to give up on me.

Thanks to Cindy, I graduated, class of ’92.

After moving in with Bea and Russell, I had perfect attendance for three straight years.

In 1994, I earned an associate degree in criminal justice . . . because I knew a lot about it.

Working as an officer for the North Carolina Department of Corrections, I saw many of the kids I grew up with in the system, including DD, one of my best friends.

Photo by James Labrenz

This was where my music career really started Fantasyche. (left to right) Me, Rob Daniels, Chad Houser, Richard Calhoun, and Eric Pruitt.

The guy who brought me to Nashville and signed me to Opryland Music Group, Mike Whelan, also introduced me to the Blue Bird Café, Music City’s legendary songwriters’ venue.

Photo by Russ Harrington

People 2003 “Sexiest Man Alive” issue—obviously they needed a page filler!

Signing my first recording contract with Dreamworks—I felt as though I had just won the lottery!

Photo by Vickie Ferrante

Rob Daniels and me, on stage together again. Nineteen years earlier, on the Osage Mill shipping dock in Bessemer City, we had dreamed of this moment.

Photo by Lillie Pawluk

Crowd surfing and trusting fans not to drop me—they never let me down.

Photo by Vickie Ferrante

On the road with Brad Paisley’s American Saturday Night tour, playing my black Takamine guitar, singing “Sara Smile,” the song that got me my record deal.

Posing with my four band members—we did it! We had just performed at one of the most famous venues in the world!

January 1, 2010, in below-zero wind chill, I began walking halfway across America to raise awareness for at-risk youth aging out of foster care.

I found Ruby in White Deer, Texas. She had been in a kill shelter, so I adopted her and brought her to Nashville.

Six months after leaving Nashville, I finally arrived in Arizona. It would be another month before Ruby and I reached Phoenix.

Photo by Chris Baldwin

During Meet Me Halfway, Dr. Brian Allen read a People article with this photo. When I broke my foot, he opened his office on a weekend to help me. I couldn’t have finished the walk without all the good people who supported me every step of the way.

Photo by Missy Gorskie

Kids at HomeBase Youth Service in Phoenix, waiting for me to cross the finish line. They understood and appreciated my walking 1,700 miles. I was nearly overwhelmed with emotion. This was what I was born to do.

Being presented a bill signed by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, extending foster care to age twenty-one—a major victory and worth every step! (left to right) Grand Ole Opry General Manager Pete Fisher, State Representative Mark White, me, State Senator Doug Overbey, and State Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr.

AP Photo/Ralph Freso

Don’t walk only when it is convenient; don’t merely walk till you get tired; keep walking through it all. Walk to Beautiful.