Crossing off my bucket list

Yesterday. You guys, I went skydiving. 

I’ve always wanted to go and knew that I just HAD to someday. So I thought my 35th birthday was a good time to do it and roped my hubs and sister into going with me. We planned to go at the end of July and went through the training and just as we were getting on the plane, they called it off because of bad weather. So, we rescheduled it for yesterday. 

And it was a perfectly sunny day. Perfect for jumping out of an airplane and hurtling yourself toward the ground, right? 

We did tandem jumps, which means there was an instructor strapped behind us to open the chute and guide us through everything. Hubs went first, then my sister and I went up in the airplane together.

My instructor literally sat on my legs the whole flight up. The inside of the airplane was tiny, and we had to sit on the floor. I sat right next to the door, which was unnerving to say the least. Beforehand, I wasn’t nervous about jumping at all – just really excited. But, man, minutes before we reached jumping altitude and realizing that the door would soon open and I would have to step out on the tiny ledge, hold on the the wing, and LET GO was pretty terrifying. It was also exhilarating and exciting and a rush. But also TERRIFYING.

But we reached 10,000 feet, the door opened, and I just did what the instructor told me to do. Stepping outside of the plane and letting go was the most surreal experience ever. It’s hard to describe what it feels like.

That’s me – the tiny dot in the middle of the picture.

There was about 45 seconds of free falling before the parachute opened. And the free fall was my favorite part of the experience. It was unreal.

Then the chute opened and we floated for a few minutes. I was able to steer and make turns, but, honestly, my fear of heights kicked in and at that point, I was pretty frozen and ready to be done. The instructor could tell I was afraid, so he started pointing out landmarks to get my mind off the fear, which helped. 

And then we landed, and I could smile again! What a crazy experience. It was a whole lot scarier than I thought it would be, but I’m also so glad I did it. I feel like I can do anything now!