Another check off the bucket list… Skydiving!

Another check off the bucket list… Skydiving!

So I wrote this post right after I went skydiving and was just too lazy to publish it until now...

My family is all about fun and trying new things. We had casually talked about skydiving a few times, but never made any concrete plans to do so. Last August, my cousin Melissa bought her husband a skydiving voucher for his birthday. We were all jealous until every time he tried to go it got rescheduled due to weather. Once it kept getting pushed back and pushed back, we had a brilliant idea- hey, why don’t we join him? We can do it after Steph graduates and make it a sort of graduation thing too! Graduate from college, jump out a plane 13,000 feet in the sky… Sounds about right. So we did it.

Dad bought us all vouchers for Christmas (thanks, Dad!). Dad, Chris, Anna, Melissa, Tom and I all looked at our schedules and picked a weekend that we could all jump. It was actually finally happening! We hyped ourselves up (luckily not psyching ourselves out), and constantly discussed the jumping order. Who was going to go first? Who was going to go last and get to watch everyone else jump? Would Anna still jump if Chris went before her and wasn’t there to push her off? So many questions floating around.

Turns out, those didn’t really matter. We ask our instructors if it’s okay that we have an order we’d like to jump in (finally decided on what we wanted). He said maybe, but you have to distribute the weight evenly throughout the plane. Shortly after, we all start piling in the plane with our tandem flying partners, and I realize that I am getting in last and sitting on the floor of the plane right next to the door. All of a sudden it hits me and I turn and ask, “This means I’m going first, doesn’t it?” Yup. All that planning for nothing! I was going first.

Surprisingly (you can believe me if you want), I actually wasn’t that scared—just excited! It was so cool looking out the windows and just seeing the plane climb higher and higher. And then getting excited when you see how crazy high we are and think you’re about to jump, but no you’re only half way up and he is just opening the door for some “air conditioning.”

Finally, once we reached somewhere between 10 and 13,000 feet, the guy who’s lap I was sitting on (we all got to know our instructors pretty well), tapped me and told me to put my glasses on. It was time. I couldn’t believe it! I just had to keep reminding myself that it was actually happening. I turn to face the rest of my family, wave goodbye to them, and just lean my left shoulder out the door until I’m flying in the sky.

What a rush! Falling at 120 mph with cold air smashing against your face, making any loose part on your face jiggle like jello. I’m a screamer when it comes to drops on roller coasters, so you can bet I was screaming the whole way down. I was loving it! After about 30 or so seconds of free fall, we pulled the parachute and were jerked back into a relaxing parachute ride… Except I told my instructor that I wanted to go fast and make it fun… so four incredibly fast spins later, I had to say through a smile “Okay, getting a little dizzy...” before something worse happened.

I landed safely on the grass and was able to turn and watch my other family members land with huge smiles on their faces. Everyone landed safely, had a great time, and no one even puked/pooped their pants/passed out, so I would say it was successful! I’ve heard that sky diving was addicting, and after going once I think I might have to agree… Planning for jump #2 starts now.