Skydiving has always been something that I have been extremely interested in doing. It was one of those things I always told myself, “Oh hey, I could do that!” but then never really got around to taking a deeper look into where I could do it or who I would do it with. That was, until I met my boyfriend who is a natural dare devil. We have this thing that we share together called “The List”, which we started 2 years ago. Included in this list are things that we want to do together before we die. These things included things like: go to a drive in movie theater, skydive, and travel the world. We had made this list when we had first started talking, just as friends, so I hadn't thought we would actually accomplish any of these things together realistically, I thought it was just a nice thing to day dream about.
One day this past August, my mom told me to get up from bed and get my tennis shoes because we were going to go hiking somewhere in Snohomish. I climbed out of bed, and oddly enough she told me, “OH! don't forget to bring your license!” I was taken back by this statement because why would I need my license to go hiking? After she read the questioning expression in my face she quickly added, “uhh, because ya know, uhm… I might get tired after driving for awhile!”
When we arrived in Snohomish, I promptly saw a sign that read “SKYDIVE SNOHOMISH” and thought, “oh my word! I have to tell my boyfriend about this!” I quickly shot him a text reading, “Isaac! We still need to go Skydiving!” in which he responded, “I know! We gotta do that one day!”
My mom had claimed she wanted some pie before we went hiking so we had stopped in town to grab some before our “hike”. As we drove out of town we passed the same skydiving driveway with the big sign and low and behold guess who was underneath it, my boyfriend Isaac. As I sat in my seat confused and a bit shocked, he opened up my door and climbed in beside me and said, “You ready?” with a huge grin on his face. When he saw that the confusion on my face didn't waiver he clarified with saying, “Are you ready to go skydiving? I told you I had something big planned for your graduation/birthday/anniversary present!”
Next thing I know I am signing a million waivers, each with the last sentence of the waiver being, “THIS IS A DANGEROUS SPORT, YOU COULD DIE.” There are a million thoughts racing through my head, I had no clue what to think. Isaac had had around 3 months to process the fact that he would be falling out of the sky, while I only had about 3 hours!
After sitting around awaiting my near death for what seemed like forever, we finally boarded the plane. My guide had kept putting a GoPro camera in my face in the attempt to document my every move, thought, and feeling. I am nearly shaking at this point, sitting in between the legs of my guide, which was very odd, uncomfortable, and nonetheless awkward. My boyfriend holds my hand and gives it a comforting squeeze as if to say, “You have always said you wanna do this! Don't be a chicken now!”
If watching the elevation climb wasn’t anxiety provoking enough, the scoot towards the door was literally going to push me over the edge (pun intended). Unbeknownst to me, my boyfriend had whispered to my guide to push me over the edge of the plane on #2 of the 1-2-3 countdown. I am looking at the earth beneath me and praying that our chute doesn't malfunction as I listen to him counting down, then all of a sudden I am falling…falling…and still falling. We do a flip so we have our back to the world as we watch the plane get smaller and smaller, then we flip back around. My guide had tapped my shoulders indicating that I could spread my arms like superman, but I was so terrified that he had to literally grab my forearm and rip my arm from my other arm so that I would open up into a wingspan! To be honest, I ended up looking like a horrified T-Rex falling from the sky.
So many people have asked me, “Didn’t you feel nauseous falling from that high up?!” and my answer is a complete NO! I can’t explain the pure joy you feel while falling from the sky. You don't get that gut feeling of anxiety that you would gain while falling on a roller coaster. I believe this is because when you are on a roller coaster you can see things passing by you quickly that let you know, “Oh hey, I am actually going extremely fast right now!” When you are so high up there, there is nothing for your body to grasp how fast you are actually going. There are no trees passing you by, no sky scrapers, just you and the sky. Because of this you cannot tell that you are in actually going at least 120 mph!
When we landed with our toes facing the sky, my breath was completely taken away! I was unclipped from my instructor and ran up to Isaac and hugged him really tight because 1) We had survived, and 2) How clever was it to take me skydiving for a giant joint gift!
If you are considering going skydiving, I 100% recommend it. I guarantee it will be one of the most thrilling things you will ever do. Take your friend, mom, brother, or other loved one that is horrified of heights! I promise that you will have a good time! If you don't believe me, Watch this video that my flight instructor took of me falling from the sky.
