Stephanie Stanton: Why I Want To Fly

Stephanie Stanton

 

"The skies are blue on this crisp, autumn day. Children are laughing and skipping. The birds are chirping high up in the old oak tree. The leaves are slowly changing color, from vibrant green to rich reds, golden yellows, and dark browns. One by one they fall from their high perch and land softly on the ground, but the ground is the last place Stephanie Marie would ever think to be on a day like today. Instead of being outside jumping in the great piles of leaves as all the other kids her age are doing, she would rather be in a small box with 5 inoperable windows, two locked doors, no air conditioning and a wall full of gauges and levers. Most would not understand why anyone would want to do this, let alone a child, but Stephanie knows the power of this grand machine.
 

It is the allure of freedom and independence that draws her to that small vehicle in the middle of an empty field. The bright red and yellow adorning stripes on the side of the plane shine brightly in the mid-afternoon glow. Only a select few can truly understand Stephanie’s passion for flight. 

Once experienced, flight becomes a thirst for the trill of ‘throwing yourself at the ground and missing.’ Freedom from gravity requires choice, skill, and the willingness to fight the laws of nature. She must have gas in her plane to fuel her escape from the bounds that hold humanity to the earth. Too much gas will make her plane too heavy and too little could mean disaster; after all, ‘too much of a good thing can be bad.’ Lucky for her, she has found the perfect balance. Her planes flaps and rudders must be fully functioning so she can steer her vessel safely. Any mistake could spell catastrophe at any time during flight. Stephanie, after going through her pre-flight checklist, is clear for take-off.
       

She moves with the mindset and precision of a surgeon operating on a patient. Any error in could be fatal, but Stephanie knows what she is doing. Practice and training have given her the tools to be a part of a world with another dimension, a world with more depth than one person can ever see in its entirety. She can see the changing of seasons as the warmth of summer transforms into the coolness of autumnon the carpet of color that lay far below.
        

The beauty and majesty of God’s creations which only birds, butterflies, and pilots will ever see becomes forever etched in young Stephanie’s mind. The feeling she experiences as she swoops effortlessly above the trees and skims above the gleaming water is simply indescribable. It is the feeling of success resounding through the mind of a child. She knows she can fight for her freedom to soar with just the right balance of subtlety and force to combat even the most solid laws which govern her freedom. After all, she can defy gravity."

Stephanie, you have the heart and soul of a pilot. Keep flying and feeling that freedom. Your words are poetry across the page as your wings are to the sky. Had you been living in location of a free flight... it would have been yours. 

Fly safe!

Enjoy the Journey!

~ Karlene