July 24, 2010 

 

 

Today I successfully completed my very first skydive! It was absolutely amazing and I can’t do anything but praise God for his grace and his angels! I was sure that I was going to meet Jesus at least 3 times today but I made it back in tact. Let’s review the events of the day together. 

I decided that I wanted to skydive for my 30th birthday. Mainly because my friends are spread all over the country so I didn’t want to rustle everyone up.  Also, I was born on January 5th, so since it’s right after the holidays when people are broke and traveled ragged.  So, if you can’t party, you might as well jump out of a plane! As the weather would have it, January was a horribly cold time to jump even in South Carolina so that jump was rescheduled. I pulled a muscle after my PT test, so I couldn’t make it to my 2nd scheduled jump.  Now, six months later I was able to celebrate my milestone birthday with a bang.

I was fine on the drive up there. Skydive Carolina is in the sticks, conveniently hidden between Columbia and Charlotte. I was not scared when I got there or even when I signed the waiver promising that no one remotely related to me would sue in the event of my untimely death or permanent injury. I met my instructor, Joe, who was so laid back that he couldn’t be constrained by wearing shoes.  Then, about 20 of us piled in the tiny little plane and set off on our adventure.  When we kept flying higher, I started to get a little bit nervous.  No one can really conceive how high 14,000 feet is, it is high. During the trip up I finally thought about what we were all doing. We were going 3 miles into the air and willingly throwing ourselves out of a safe plane to free fall for about a mile, then we would pull a string and hope that the nylon sheet will come out and help us land safely on the ground. Madness! 

We got up to 14,000 feet and the professional jumpers just opened the door and started peeling out like you would walk out of any door of a building! I was the first of the tandem jumpers so I had no rookie to watch, which was probably to my benefit. My instructor pulled me up and pushed me to the door where I got my first glimpse of death. I saw how high we were and thought, “We’re gonna die!” Fortunately, Joe was behind me so I just acknowledged pending death and kept moving. You can’t dwell on negativity like that. Upon exit we flipped over 3 times! Literally head over heels 3 times in a row. During this time, I thought again, “We’re gonna die!” Once we stabilized and stretched out I began enjoying the view, the clouds, the quiet, the cool wind, it was beyond belief. Joe pulled the parachute and we began to coast on the wind. I even got to steer for a while as he taught me how to turn to the the left and right.  Then as we were moving toward the landing zone, a plane taking off seemed to be heading straight for us. For the third time in 20 mins I thought, “We’re gonna die!” You can’t speed up a parachute and you cannot hit the brakes. I had no idea how we were going to work this out! Thankfully, I’m the rookie with limited knowledge and Joe was in control. He steered us sharply to the right and we were home free, heading in for a safe landing.  

Once on the ground my body was literally buzzing from the adrenaline surge for at least 30 mins.  I couldn’t drive home like that, I could barely remember my name. May God continue to bless our amazing Airborne service members who not only hop out of a plane, but then remember the mission that they need to accomplish once on the ground! I probably couldn’t have found the nearest bathroom, if asked. 

 Despite the repeated glimpses at certain death, skydiving is an absolute must do. Thank God I only turn 30 once though!