Max Hein Scores Again!

My grandson’s name is Maxfield, but everyone calls him Max. Born six weeks premature, he is one tough dude. Max weighed just three pounds when he was born. He was determined to make it. And he did. 

I came home from Mexico soon after Max was born and rented an apartment close enough to walk to the hospital every day. I looked at him through the incubator and watched his skinny little chest rise and fall with every breath. I marveled at the number of tubes in his tiny body. I told him that I was proud of him. I always will be.

As a little boy, Max had asthma but that didn’t stop him. One day Jason was driving home from work and spotted a little boy up in a tree, where he obviously didn’t belong. As  he turned the corner, the boy fell out of the tree, dusted himself off and walked away. That’s Max.

When he was in elementary school, Max went to a week-long, sleep-away camp for children with asthma. The motto of the camp was” “No excuses, no adaptations, no whining” (or something like that.) Max, of course, loved it.

Up in the mountains, high above Denver, Max went hiking, kayaking and swimming. He tried archery and lacrosse for the first time. He played baseball, slept in a cabin and made friends with everyone. That’s Max.  

Max has so much athletic ability, I wonder if he really belongs in our family. He looks a lot like Jason did as a little boy, except with jet black hair and dark chocolate eyes.  Max is one of those children who learns a new sport just by watching.

In elementary school, he took gymnastic lessons and wowed both me and his instructor with his ability to do tricks the first time he tried. In middle school, he ran track and easily sprinted to the finish line at every meet. If Max were a race horse, he would come from behind in every race and win the Triple Crown.

Max has played baseball every summer since joining an Aurora Recreation team in third grade. He runs like the wind and easily slides into base. Max goes home from every game with the dirtiest white pants on his team. When he’s not covering first base or the outfield, he pitches.

In his free time, Max likes to go to Skate City and roller blade for hours. He’s also a great dancer. One time he tried to teach me to “floss” ~ the dance move, not my teeth. 

Max has boundless energy and a happy disposition. He loves his family and his friends. Max turns fourteen on June 1st. FOURTEEN! Next year he will be in high school. That tiny baby is now taller than I am. His hands and feet are bigger than Jason’s. 

I know Max misses his Mom. Kortnee died when Max was in third grade. I asked Max what he missed most about her. “Her hugs,” was his answer. I’m sure that’s true. Now Max, like his Mom, is a great “hugger.” A hug from Max feels like warm sun on a cold winter day.