Chance ~ A Boy With Magic In His Heart

Some children are born with a touch of magic . My oldest grandson, Connor, believed in leprechauns. My youngest one, Max,  believed in Elf on the Shelf. Chance, my middle grandson IS a leprechaun and the Christmas Elf, rolled into one.

Chance is cute and charming, with an incredibly kind heart and a vivid imagination. As an only child, Chance’s best friend has always been his creativity. An early, voracious reader, he devoured fantasy books. While other students were kicking a soccer ball around the playground at recess, Chance and his friends were playing elaborate games that involved dragons, heroes and villains. 

I once asked Chance what he wanted to be when he grew up. “A librarian and a spy,” was his answer. “That’s good,” I thought. I’ve met a number of librarians who had the same double major.

For a while, Chance wanted to be a pirate, after playing the part of the drunken sailor, Mr. Smee, in his preschool rendition of Peter Pan.

Some years later, Chance came to Mexico with his parents and met up with me and Neto in Sayulita. While his parents were swimming in the ocean, Chance stayed back with us. He put his hand on Neto’s knee and said, “Someday I’m going to build a pirate ship that flies through the sky. Only special people can get on board. But you two ~ you will definitely be part of my crew.”

The highlight of my summers, when Chance was little, were the weeks he spent with me while he attended camp at the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. One summer I told him I wanted to build a fairy garden, and he was “all-in.” We went to the local nursery to pick out a fairy castle. Chance dug through his stash of miniature cars and found a golf cart and a convertible to add to the mix. We installed a tiny bird bath, an outdoor table, and some benches. Every year, when I set up the fairy garden again, I think of Chance and smile. 

In middle school, Chance went to a week-long camp at UC-Boulder and again stayed with me. We spent a couple nights in Boulder, rather than make the drive to and from Aurora every day. What fun! Our apartment was designed to look like a tree-house, complete with a swing suspended from the ceiling. We felt like two birds, high up in the trees. It was a perfect get-away for a boy with a vivid imagination and his grandmother, who sometimes likes to pretend she’s a bird, too.  

Chance  lives in Fraser, with his parents, Garth and Bethany, and goes to Middle Park High School in Granby. He studies hard, operates the sound board for school plays, and volunteers  in his community. He holds down a job washing dishes at a local restaurant, skis in the winter and rides his mountain bike in the summer. In his spare time ~ meager that it is ~ he collects Magic Cards and goes to Magic Card game nights with his friends.

Next year, Chance will be a high school senior. I love our FaceTime calls. Chance reads my blog every week and he is my go-to person for computer help. He’s thinking about where he wants to go to college and may go somewhere far away. I will miss him.

Wherever the journey takes him, I know that Chance will thrive. He will work hard and maintain his kind, generous spirit. I hope he keeps his imagination alive. I hope that Neto and I will always be part of his pirate crew.