Then, when she was eleven, her father took her to an airport to watch planes land.
She remembered the smell of coffee from the terminal café, the rumble of luggage wheels, and the enormous aircraft appearing beyond the glass like something from another world.
She had pressed both hands against the window.
“Daddy, how does something that big stay in the sky?”
Her father laughed.
“Very good people make sure it does.”
That evening, Elena announced that she wanted to fly airplanes when she grew up.
Her father encouraged her.
Her mother worried about the cost.
Her high school counselor suggested she consider something more practical.
And when Elena finally announced that she had been accepted into a flight training program, one of her uncles shook his head.
“You’re a smart girl,” he told her. “Why make life so difficult for yourself? You could become a teacher, get married, have children, and still travel when you want.”
