When the magic of Oshkosh follows you home

Any Oshkosh super fan knows the Monday after EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is hard.

Life goes back to normal, with mountains of dirty laundry and an insanely full inbox facing me that morning, while my husband had to get back to our FBO, Classic Aviation, at Pella Municipal Airport (KPEA) in Iowa.

As a photographer I get the rare opportunity to live it on a smaller scale one more time in the editing process. This year was no different, and I put a lot of my focus on editing what I needed to submit to General Aviation News.

In the midst of this, my phone lit up with a notification from my portrait photography Facebook account. Switching gears, I popped over to Facebook and found a message from a couple flying home from Oshkosh.

“Hey Megan, my husband Steve and I stopped in Pella last night exhausted, but beautifully ‘high’ from just experiencing for the first time the world-renowned EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. We were going to leave today but decided to stay another glorious night in another place we got a high for the first time this past year at the fabulous Pella Tulip Festival. We need a casual impromptu high-on-endorphins photo shoot please.”

Jennifer added her husband, Steve, is “an aviator to the very core of him.”

“He was an airplane and helicopter mechanic who is medically retired due to frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and aphasia,” she went on to say. “It’s so sad, but we are trying to live life fully.”

“As you can imagine life is ‘life on life’s terms,’ especially now, but I would love to get a memory of us in his Oshkosh T-shirt he is proudly wearing if you have any availability.”

My first thought was how did an aviation enthusiast find my portrait business page? I messaged Jennifer right back and she shared that one of my clients met her at the hotel and referred her to me.

Imagine her delight when I told her we could do the session at the airport with airplanes. We set a time for a few days later and I begin to noodle what airplane would be a good fit for the session.

At 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 31, I headed to the airport. My husband, who was already at our FBO, pulled the 1946 J-3 Cub out of the hangar and positioned it in the grass. God bless him, he’s one of my biggest fans and is always willing to do whatever I need at photoshoots at KPEA.

Around 8 a.m., Jennifer and Steve arrived. We loaded up on the golf cart and headed towards the Cub. It made my week when I saw Steve’s face light up at the sight of the Cub.

As he walked around and soaked it in, Jennifer shared with me that Steve had grown up around Stearmans and Cubs.

Steve’s dad was a crop duster in California, but had passed in a tragic accident when Steve was 14. Steve was the baby of the family and his mom wouldn’t let him fly after that. She couldn’t risk losing another family member.

Steve took the A&P path and devoted his life to aircraft maintenance. Sadly, aphasia has stolen that from Steve too.

But on this beautiful morning we got to celebrate their 24 years of marriage with photos in front of a J-3 Piper Cub. And celebrate the mark that Steve made in aviation.

I watched him trace the parts of the Continental C-85 engine, and just like that he was transported back in time.

It was pure elation for him; my heart was full.

After the photo session, I took them on a tour of the airport and FBO. I wish I would’ve had more time to spend with them but, alas, flight training awaited me. Steve and Jennifer completely understood and watched as I took off for my lesson. I hope they won’t be strangers.

It was a wonderful experience and it’s all because of the magic of Oshkosh.