SkyDiving Fun!

Redefining non-traditional has actually taken a whole new turn. It's not just deciding to do things differently than the average 42 year-old but to do it with flair and fun. This last weekend, in hopes of making my "bucket list" a little shorter, I went skydiving.

When I woke up on Saturday, I couldn't believe what I was actually getting ready to do, JUMP out of a plane. What was I thinking? I've got two babies at home that may not like the idea of becoming orphans and why would anyone jump from a perfectly good plane? I called my very good friends and after several minutes of begging, I could see that I wasn't going to be able to talk them out of jumping... oh well, might as well eat. We got together for our "last supper". I could see the theme of the bbq was saying our last goodbyes. There were several comments made about what we should eat for our last meal, what we should wear as our last outfit, and what would be our last thoughts before we plummeted to the ground. Noone mentioned that we were actually going to pay someone to do this.

It was time! We all piled into cars and made the very short trip to Star. We all agreed that the reason the site is so desolate is if any accident does happen, they can just bury the body and noone would be the wiser. The weather was beautiful and everything was perfect. We watched a 10 minute video about how important it was to sign all of the boxes on the release form promising not to sue or punish the company in any way in case of death... hmmm! Then we gave up our $165 and said, "wow, can't wait"!

I next met my instructor who let me know that this was only his 4th jump and he wasn't sure how to land yet but thought we could figure it out. Apparently he had made the person that packed our chute angry the day before and he hoped it wouldn't be a revenge today. He made several similar comments as he was tightening my harness and "trying" to remember everything.

Chase, my friends 18 year old, and I were going to jump first. I waved goodbye to the kids and said "I'll be right back"... a famous line from the movie "Castaway". Next we got into the plane, if you can call it that. The inside was about the size of my desk so all personal space boundaries become obsolete. Let's just say we got rather cozy. Then we started the climb. My instructor was very witty with his version of the song "because we got high"... I was just trying to keep from puking. He would tell me "1", then "2" then "3" for how many 1000 feet we were climbing,...we had to get to 10. The door opens, Chase and his instructor went first. I don't really remember too much about that. The next thing I thought "I hope I'm actually attached to this guy and he has no desire to commit any kind of suicide". I looked out of the plane and we did it, fell right out! Screaming at that point was a major understatement! The fall was amazing and short... then a quick jerk and everything stood still. It was beautiful. I could see all of the surrounding lakes, the hills, the farms... words can't describe God's beauty and how peaceful! My instructor gave me the chance to "drive" the chute, which was fun. We did a few twist and twirls and then he told me to "take a seat" and we were down.

One more quick "woohoo" and wow, thrill city! The entire experience was everything I wanted it to be, and more! Even though I don't see myself ever doing it again, the adrenaline rush was definitely worth it and highly recommended.