The Liberty Gazette
October 24, 2023
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
Linda: We have this friend, AnnElise. We've written about her
a few times before. She’s been through so much. One of the most painful things in her life was the death of her youngest daughter, Sarah, in an accident ten years ago this past March. The pain doesn’t go away, but it somehow becomes part of who we are, and we learn to walk with it. AnnElise has found things to help her, one of which was a gift from Sarah.
Sarah was in college, just days from graduation. She was a ray of sunshine, brightening the lives of everyone who knew her. One thing she used to do was post pictures of doing handstands, just any place, any time. Handstanding became something AnnElise could do to “water the flowers and not the weeds.” To fight pain by spreading sunshine. Each of us travels that journey in our own way, and this pilot, air racer, crossfitter extraordinaire faces grief like a pilot-in-command.
And so, in her mid-50’s, she began to do handstands. To fight the sorrow and to tell the world about the funny, blissful girl Sarah was, causing happiness.
It started during a family healing trip abroad with her sister, Carol, a niece, and her older daughter, Lauren. Sometimes joined by others, they broke out in spontaneous handstanding. In Moray and Lima, and all over Peru. She and Carol returned home with an undeniable urge to do handstands; the upside-down way that helps turn pain into Sharahing Sunshine.
In the family’s Easter portrait is AnnElise, handstanding. Against a Southwest Airlines B737 engine nacelle, next to the windsock on her grass runway, handstanding. Carol, a concert cellist, went feet-up in the orchestra pit, at a housewarming party, while broken down on the side of the road awaiting a tow truck, upon a suspension bridge, up against a police car (officer in photo too, smiling), against a ladder truck as the firemen were grocery shopping. She titled one photo, “Chilling-With-The-Maestro-Before-The-Concert-Handstand.”
When Carol posed for the camera with a cat atop her feet, AnnElise replied with a photo titled, “I’ll-See-Your-Cat-and-Raise-You-A-Rooster-Handstand.”
Then Carol found a photo of Sarah at the beach–doing a handstand.
Friends posted handstand photos–under water, in front of the U.S. Congress building–and the sunshine spread because these handstands make a statement. At the time, I supported my friend through prayer, encouragement, a listening ear. But it’d been decades since I’d tried a handstand. And I wasn’t exactly in great shape.
A couple years ago, I began strengthening and practicing my handstands. I hoped that one day, AnnElise and I could make that statement together.
The recent Grumman fly-in was held at Pecan Plantation airpark, home to AnnElise. In the pavilion next to the runway, finally, I got to dive down, kick up, and handstand alongside my good friend. We had plenty of onlookers, and so many smiles. It felt good to Sharah the Sunshine.
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Linda: While being whisked away in a Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” for a much-needed vacation, I was intrigued by the electronic window dimming technology. No more shades to lift or pull. Just push a button below the window and you’ll send an electrical current through a layer of gel inside, between the multiple layers in the pane. The current causes a chemical reaction in the gel that changes its thickness and hence its opacity. The lowest voltage results in a clear view, while the highest voltage gives you pretty much total black-out. As we crossed the pond to London’s Heathrow, I played with the window dimming like it was a toy, pausing in the clear state to admire the enormous wing flexibility. I wonder what airplane lovers of the past would think of it. 
