Do you have a bucket list? A list of things you want to accomplish before your time on earth is done? I have a few. For example, I'd like to go to Italy, I want to drive a Hummer, I want learn how to do makeup professionally. These are just a few things on the list. This past October, I had the opportunity to cross something off-Skydiving. I have had the desire to do it for a few years-just didn't know when or where or how. SO-I made a promise to myself that I would do it before I turned 30. Skydiving is not a cheap thing, so I knew that if I wanted to go, I needed to save my money. I started to do so somewhere around December 2011, putting away a couple dollars here and there. And then! Finally! I had enough. I scheduled a date for Saturday, October 6, 2012 with my friend, Rachael.
Let me tell you, if you ever decide to do this, you are going to have people coming at you with all kinds of opinions.
I got some of these:
"You're crazy." (I know!)
"You're going to die." (Hey, if I do, at least I was doing something fun!)
"Do you have a death wish?" (Nope! See above answer.)
"I'm worried(That you're going to die.)" (Don't be worried. See above answer.)
"Do you value life?" (ACTUALLY! YES! I do. I want to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities that are available to me. Jumping out of a plane is one of them. You only get but one life.)
"Wow. You're adventurous."-Said in a sarcastic tone.(WHY THANK YOU! I THINK SO TOO!)
And then you will get those people that are so excited for you and will say things like this!
"I'm so excited for you!" (Thank you! I'm excited too!)
"I bet you're gonna love it!" (I know I will! (And I did!))
"You are just...amazing." (Awwwwwwww! You know how to touch my heart!)
"Wow! You're adventurous!"-This time said in a really excited, encouraging tone.(Thanks!-Said with a super cheesy face!)
I took all comments in stride and went on my merry way-counting down to the big day, posting randomly on facebook so that EVERYBODY knew. =) If I was going to do something so big, I wanted the whole world to know! (BTW, if you're going to do this, tell your mom ahead of time. No, for real. Unless you know your mom is going to freak out. I didn't tell my mom b/c I thought she would freak about #1)about the money #2)about me doing something life threatening. So, I told her the day before. She was all "What if I wanted to come watch!!!!!" and then I felt really guilty. She had a hair appointment that she didn't want to reshcedule. I told her that she should reschedule b/c it wasn't like this was something I did every day. She later decided that it probably would not be good for her nerves, especially if I fell to my death. (I know!) So,I have made a promise to myself that if I ever decide to do something like that again, I will tell her ahead of time!)
The day came and I had everybody wishing me good luck, telling me to be careful, have fun, etc, etc. We drove up with our other friend, Crystal, who came to watch and document the before and after. It took us well over an hour to get there and the whole time, I was thinking "HOLY CRAP! I'M REALLY DOING THIS! OMG, I'M SO EXCITED!" I won't bore you with the whole preparation process, but let's just say it went faster than I though as we were told that we may have to wait hours and hours. The sky was blue and the sun was shining and we were ready to go! They took us up in this little plane, where you could feel it every time we ascended higher and higher. The higher we got, the more nervous I felt. I know myself and I knew I was going to react this way. I kept telling myself "THERE'S NO GOING BACK!" A couple of skydiving students jumped out before me and all I could think was whaaaatttt theeee heccckkk since I guess they were trying to show off or something by doing flips as they jumped out. My instructor told me what do and then we were ready to go. There's no way to really prepare yourself for jumping out of a plane, so what I did was scream. Lots of holy craps came out of my mouth. The guy who took the pictures and did the video(Yes, they're coming!) said I was quite the screamer. LOL! Anyway, while I was descending, it was terrifying. And then incredible. At first, you realize that you just jumped out of a plane at over 2 miles in the air(which is over 14,000 feet.) and you're about to pee yourself. And you're thinking "Wow. The wind is intense up here. Is my face gonna blow off?" And then you tell yourself to calm down and enjoy the ride. The sky at that level is indescribable. I love clouds, but this was different. It was like an open heaven. Or at least a small view of what heaven may be like. At this point, I was cheesin! I also couldn't believe it was happening, that I was actually doing it. Then, the parachute was pulled. Even the floating down was incredible. I could see all of the pretty tree tops changing into fall colors. I could see a river. I could see houses. It was almost like the view you have as you're in a plane, landing.
Annndddddd, that's pretty much it! You blink and then it's over. It was amazing! My instructor was great and kind, telling me every single move he was going to make. At the end, he ask me to sign his "book of jumpers." I thought that was so great. If I ever go again, I hope I get to have him again. If you ever have the opportunity to go, PLEASE jump on it. I promise you that you won't regret it. My friend pointed out to me that this must have opened a lot of doors for me- not only literally, but spiritually too. Skydiving is literally a metaphor for following God. Sometimes, we are called to take risks in life, and we have to have an enormous amount of faith. So, instructor=God, skydiving=risk. Even if you're screaming the whole way. ;)
Also, you can also check out my crazy self skydiving:
(Don't mind my crazy hair. I didnt realize how whack it looked that day.)
ANNNDDDDDDD last but not least, my friend Faith wrote about me on her blog!!
I am still so honored that I was able to be apart of it. You can find the entry here.
Faith writes about everything, so please take the time to check her out! I would greatly appreciate it!!
Until the next entry!
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