Sometimes, life clicks into place. Events and people randomly cross your path and you realize the cosmic dice rolled your way.

Our granddaughter has talked about becoming a pilot for the past few years. She considered joining the U.S. Air Force to save money as flight school’s expensive.

Nobody in our family or hers had a career in aviation, and I wondered how she settled on this particular career. But she was constant – becoming a pilot is her dream.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a meeting of women educators. The guest speaker was a young man who taught us how to build paper airplanes.

At the end of his presentation, his mom handed out a flyer about the Young Eagles Club®. The national group launched in 1992 through the Experimental Aircraft Association. Their mission – introduce young people to the joys of aviation.

Over 2 million youngsters have flown with the group since the club’s beginning. They also offer aviation talks, scholarships and education about the different types of aviation opportunities.

One of their give-backs is to offer youth ages 8-17 their first free ride in an airplane.

By chance, the local chapter was having their monthly meeting that Thursday in Brookshire. We couldn’t believe our luck, and we made sure we were there early.

The people running the meeting were knowledgeable and welcoming. They talked about their experiences flying and building planes and how excited they were to see so many young people in attendance.

An even luckier chance was the Young Eagles® free flight was that Saturday.

Early that morning, Kylie, her mom, brother and I met at the Houston Executive Airport, none of us knowing what to expect.

Over the course of the morning, we saw youngsters in groups of two and three head outside. Finally, we saw Kylie coming out of the waiting area. An older man with a smile on his face led the way, and he beckoned for us to follow him out to the tarmac.

We stopped at a blue-and-white three-seater plane. Mike, the pilot, showed Kylie and a boy the parts on the outside of the plane and what their function was. Then he buckled the boy into the back seat and Kylie into the front.

I know her heart was pounding and so were ours. We stepped back to the hangar, and the propeller on the small plane started whirling. With a wave and a smile, Mike started taxing down the tarmac to the runway.

There was a chance she’d get up in the air and change her mind – flying might not be for her. She could be afraid of heights or the ride could be too scary.

We watched the plane rise into a bright blue sky, and her mom and I both wiped our eyes as we walked back inside.

A half hour later, the plane touched down. When Kylie got out, the smile on her face was brighter than the sun. She said Mike let her take the plane up, and she was both scared and excited. Kylie said she was certain – she wanted to become a pilot.

She picked an unlimited path. Women pilots only make up about 6 percent of trained pilots, and scholarships abound.

Later that morning, her mom showed me a picture she’d taken of Kylie headed to the plane.

“She’s walking toward her dream,” she said and we both teared up.

Following a dream deserves encouragement, and Kylie’s got a supportive ground crew – her family, and now a group of flying enthusiasts who believe in making aviation dreams come true.

The sky’s the limit, dear granddaughter.

Soar.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.