It was on a Friday that Mia turned exactly fourteen and a half. Her father believed in celebrating not only birthdays but half-birthdays, too, always saying one shouldn’t rejoice in someone only once a year. They had been back in the States all of three days, settling into a small two-bedroom house just outside of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was a late-spring morning; school didn’t start for an hour. Her mother was busy unpacking and getting breakfast ready when her dad snuck into her room and kidnapped her for a day of fun.
With the windows rolled down, the radio blaring, and two bags of chips, candy, and waters on the seat between them, they escaped.
Arriving at NAS Oceana, they drove around a road crew repairing pavement near the front entrance and stopped at the security gate. Joe introduced the three guards to Mia and, with a wink and a smile, continued on to a large hangar. Without a word, her father led her inside. The cavernous space was filled with F-35 Lightning II’s, F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets, the greatest fighter jets the world had known, capable of speeds in excess of mach 1.8. Mia looked at her father with curious eyes as they walked toward a locker. He reached inside and pulled something out.
“Put this on,” Joe said as he handed Mia a flight suit.
“What are we doing?” Mia begged with a smile
“Just go into the ladies’ locker room and put that on.” Joe pointed to the door before turning into the men’s locker room.
Mia stared at the tan jumpsuit before looking at the two-seater jets and her heart began to race with excitement.
Three minutes later, Mia exited the locker room, but her father was nowhere to be found. She left the hangar, looking at the nearly vacant runway, seeing nothing but a 757 jet, its engines whining in anticipation of takeoff. She saw no fighter jets prepped and ready, no planes of a smaller stature that her father would be taking her up in.
Then, from the doorway of the 757, she finally saw her dad in his jumpsuit, his short dark hair blowing in the morning breeze, waving to her. She waved back, a smile on her face that expertly hid her disappointment. Being the daughter of a naval officer, she had been in the cockpits of large jets such as this one on too many occasions to count. She had gotten her hopes up for something exciting and new. But she would never let him know.
Mia climbed the stairs and entered what she realized was not a typical 757. The room she stood in was like a scientific lab; instruments and computers abounded. Four young officers stood when she entered the plane and nodded hello. Her father quickly introduced them as naval scientists who were studying the effects of spatial awareness in low-gravity environments.
Her dad pointed her to a door that led into the cabin of the jet, and they entered what looked like an insane asylum. There were no windows, and the walls and ceiling were padded. Against the walls were harnesses, spaced evenly apart. Along each wall, the ceiling, and the floor were ladder rungs affixed to the body of the plane, running the length of the large tubular room.
“Let’s strap in,” Joe said, smiling at his daughter.
“What are we doing, Daddy?” Mia asked, her curiosity growing.
Joe just smiled as he sat on the floor against the padded wall and strapped himself in. Mia followed suit.
“What kind of plane is this?”
A red light on the far wall lit up, its glow painting the white wall padding bright crimson. The whine of the jet grew, and she could feel the four large engines vibrating as the jet lurched forward, quickly picking up speed. And although there were no windows, she could imagine the Virginia countryside whipping by. After thirty seconds, the roar of the engines peaking, she felt the jet jump into the air, the engines screaming as they climbed high into the sky.
“Mia,” her father finally said, “in life we are faced with adversity, with tough choices, difficult decisions, but what you must remember is that there is always a solution. Nothing is impossible. Your mother doesn’t believe this, and that’s OK. But I do, and I know you do, too. I can’t imagine what your heart must go through every time we pull you away from friends, how difficult it must be always to feel like a stranger, but that will soon end. I’m going to retire and move into the private sector. We’re finally going to have a normal life.”
Mia looked up at her dad and smiled. “To me, it’s always been a normal life. I wouldn’t trade a single moment.”
The red light on the far wall winked out, replaced by a yellow one, and with it, the whine of the jet’s engine disappeared.
Joe unstrapped himself, stood up, and nodded for Mia to do the same. He took her hand, and they walked to the rear wall.
“Remember, Mia,” Joe said as he stared into her eyes with such love, “nothing is impossible.”
The light on the far wall turned green, Mia felt her stomach grow light, and all at once she was floating, drifting hand-in-hand with her father. The weight of the world was literally gone.
“Put your feet against the wall,” her father said, which they both did effortlessly.
He held tight to her hand, and they pushed off.
Mia couldn’t help it-she could feel the tears forming in her eyes. Her dream had come true. She was flying.
They were soaring through the air, light as feathers, like birds on invisible wings.
Her heart was more alive than it had ever been. She was doing the impossible. Her mother said it could never be done, but her dad was right.
Holding hands, they sailed through the air down the length of the jet. Arriving at the far wall, her father released her, and they both planted their feet against the wall, quickly pushing off.
She was flying solo; as she had always imagined, she put her arms out, spinning around. She flipped over effortlessly, somersaulting over and over again without getting dizzy.
For two minutes, they defied gravity.
The light on the wall turned yellow, and Joe and Mia grabbed the ladder on the floor and pulled their way back to the wall. She could feel her weight returning as the engine’s cry returned.
Her father explained that they were in a modified 757, which some affectionately called the Vomit Comet for those who experienced adverse reactions to weightlessness. The plane flew up and down in long parabolic arcs, the effect of which created a zero-gravity environment within the confines of the plane. The 757 was used to study weightlessness, train astronauts, and conduct experiments; today it was used for teaching Mia how to fly.
Eleven more times the light turned green. Eleven more times Mia flew. It was, without question, the greatest experience of her life, not just because she flew but also because her father made her realize her potential; he made her realize that nothing was impossible.
Fifteen minutes after they landed, the bomb went off.
Mia and her father quickly changed out of their flight suits, grabbed their things, and hopped into the car. As they drove through the gate, they said goodnight to the three guards and headed toward home.
Fifty yards past the gate, Joe stopped the car. He looked at the full bag of uneaten food.
“Let me,” Mia said. And without waiting for an answer, she grabbed the bag filled with candy, chips, and waters and took off for the guard shack.
The soldiers took the bag, smiling in appreciation, waving to the lieutenant.
And without warning, an explosion tore the front of Joe’s car apart. A large fireball rolled into in the sky, black smoke curling upward, spreading out in a large cloud.
Joe stumbled from the car in shock, his eyes scanning for Mia. And once he saw her running toward him, once he saw that she was all right, he collapsed.
The three gatehouse guards were ten yards behind Mia, their guns drawn, yelling at her to stop, fearful of another bomb. But nothing could stop her from getting to her dad.
Joe Sullivan lay in the middle of the road, his car in flames behind him. Blood stained his burned clothing as his chest heaved and he gasped for air. Mia came charging to his side, kneeling beside him, lifting him into her lap, cradling his broken body to her chest. He was always bigger than life to her, but now…