Amelia Earhart Flies Into the Morning Sky

Once there was a little girl named Amelia who loved the sky. She would lie in the tall Kansas grass and watch the clouds drift by. She counted every bird. She dreamed of wings. People said, girls do not fly airplanes. That is for boys. Amelia listened. Then she smiled her quiet smile. Then she saved every penny she earned. One bright morning, she walked to a dusty airfield. The plane was small and loud and wonderful. The pilot took her up into the blue. The ground fell away. The fields became a patchwork quilt below. The wind rushed past her face like a song. Amelia knew, right then and there. She was born to fly. She took lessons. She practiced every single day. She fell down sometimes. She always got back up. In 1928, Amelia crossed the wide Atlantic Ocean in an airplane. The water stretched below her, gray and endless. She gripped the controls and breathed a steady breath. She talked to herself in that little cockpit. Keep going, Amelia. Keep going. Hours passed. The sky turned pink and gold. Then land appeared, green and beautiful, on the other side. She had done it. A woman had flown across the Atlantic. People cheered. Children waved flags. Little girls looked up and pointed at the sky. Amelia wrote in her diary that night. She wrote, the most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is only courage. And courage, she had plenty. So tonight, little one, look up at the stars above your window. Dream your biggest dream. Amelia would want you to. The sky belongs to every brave heart that dares to try. Sweet dreams, little flyer.