A Leap of Faith

Today's post comes straight from a lesson in my classroom.  I didn't think it important but as we were discussing parachuting, it came to my brain, "Why don't you write a piece on it?"  And so this post today comes from my photo records from over 18 years ago.  Has it been that long?  I've written about rafting and of course, my hikes around the world and state, but nothing about jumping from a plane.

Jump or not to Jump?  That is the question.  During a hair brained idea at a college dinner, my friend Nikki threw out an idea.  "Why don't we do something crazy?  Let's jump from a plane!!"  Naive.  Dumb.  Immortal.  I said, "Sure."   In the 90's, life was full of adventure and crazy times.  The night before jumping, I couldn't sleep. During the day of the jump, we found out the million and 3 ways we could die and several ways we could pull our emergency chute in case the main one didn't engage.  But most ended in death.  I signed the waiver, "We aren't responsible for your death." And.....I faced my greatest fear.  Heights. It was on the bucket list and NOT an option.

All this build up over the 7 hour course and we discover that we would have to reschedule our jump because the winds were too strong.   Two weeks later, I rescheduled, unlike the other members of the group, and went with my German friend Constanza from the crew.  We were the only two.  It was a challenge to myself.  If I couldn't do this, I was a failure.  So I got my butt on that plane in my jump suit and flew up into the heavens.  The plane engine shut off.  I walked onto the wing of the plane and 1. 2. 3. let go with my arms extended out.  I don't really remember too much here.....just that there was a large green farm below us. 

The chute opened and I could fly.  I mean REALLY REALLY FLY!  I grabbed my toggles and felt the complete and incredible experience of the "adrenaline rush".  I screamed "woo hoooo!!!" which was drowned out by the wind.  And I flew.  As the ground got closer, I began to worry again about my life as I dodged electric wires and "FLARED" before I hit the ground.   The act of flaring is quite fun.  Pull both directional hand toggles down and touch down(or crash:) to the ground.  Get that chute under control or the wind will catch it and pull you elsewhere:)  Would I do it again?  Probably not.  Was it worth the experience?  Absolutely.  What is your fear? And have you ever faced it head on?  After that experience, I wanted to be a bird or the superhero "Storm" and ride the wind.  More tomorrow....