If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would you pick? That’s a tough question. For me, it changes constantly. It depends on my mood. Do I want to be empowered or encouraged? Or do I want to be challenged or thought-provoked?  

Then the question is when would it be? At one point of the historical person’s life do I I want to see? Because if I do at the end of the person’s life, I get a wildly different outlook than if I were to pick a point in the person’s life where they were young and/or going through something challenging.  

I decided to pick a historical role model of mine when I was a little girl. Then I realized that coincidentally, the person embodied bold, strong, and free well.   

Amelia Earhart. 

I can just imagine it.  

I get to the restaurant first. I am excited, I am wearing dark jeans and a summery blouse. I chose my outfit carefully, thinking for sure the tomboy Meeley would appreciate that I wore pants instead of a skirt. I cannot help but wonder what my younger self would have done if they knew that one day they will meet Amelia Earhart. At seven years old, I had a book about Amelia Earhart and swore that I would find Amelia.  

Here I was about to have dinner with Amelia, just moments before she departed on her flight that would soon make her famous for more than one reason. There would be so many questions to ask her. I could ask about her short experience in medical school or about her nursing role during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Maybe I will sit and listen to Amelia (because I will call her Amelia as if we’re old friends) talk to me about her circumnavigation around the globe.

Maybe I’ll ask if she has any fears. Be reminded that you can be bold and brave but still worry. In a letter to her husband, Amelia wrote, “Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”  

To me, that sounds like all three – bold, strong, and free. Bold in such a way that Amelia is fearless in embarking on something new. Strong in such a way that Amelia knew the risks and hazards, but still did it anyway. Free in such a way that she literally wrote that she wants to do it because she wants to do it. She was not coerced into flying and she was not going to let others sway her. I like that. 

I don’t know what Amelia Earhart’s faith was. But I do know the times I do things even when people tell me not to do it or warn me not to do it, those are the moments I feel the most powerful and free. Those are the moments that I feel like I am truly doing God’s work. Yes, I am usually terrified and worried that I am doing the wrong thing, but I always end it with a smile and grateful that I took the jump (or flight in Amelia’s case). 

What historical figure would you have dinner with? 

Be bold. Be strong. Be free. 

Elizabeth