Amelia Earhart Is Still Missing

It's a day of great disappointment for me. The $2.2 million expedition brought no answers or closure to what happened to my childhood hero pilot Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan during their fated 1937 attempt to fly around the world. I had been following this adventure for a while and was as optimistic as The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery who led the mission. But unfortunately the search was reportedly plagued with treacherous underwater terrain and repeated, unexpected equipment mishaps that caused delays.

The group's thesis is based on the idea that Earhart and Noonan landed on a reef near the Kiribati atoll of Nikumaroro, then survived a short time. Previous visits to the island have recovered artifacts that could have belonged to Earhart and Noonan including a much talked about jar of freckle cream, and experts say an October 1937 photo of the shoreline of the island could include a blurry image of the strut and wheel of a Lockheed Electra landing gear. This evidence had granted them the funding, equipment, and government support.

Amelia Earhart's fashion label featuring a plane taking off.

They will not be giving up on proving their thesis, but that doesn't stop me from being disappointed that it didn't happen this time. Since childhood I was fascinated by the beautiful, free spirit Earhart who also seemed to have inspired by Great Aunt Evy who shared many of her qualities and was also a pilot. Earhart was the woman I wanted to grow up to be-smart, determined, an adventurous risk-taker, fearless and all at the same time fashionable. In fact she had her own fashion line. That's right Olsen twins-she unfortunately paved the way for troll nuggets like you to build ridiculous empires and create $17000 fur bags.
Today in fact is Earhart's birthday and Google has paid her homage with today's clever logo. Even though we haven't been given a resolution to her mystery, I think I will take this day to remember to be brave and take risks. Embrace the mystery, because the unknown was only more motivation to Amelia Earhart.