I want everyone to think about their personal bucket list. What's the first item on your list? For as long as I can remember, skydiving has been the first on mine. Ever since the day I turned 18, I had been trying to go, but I did not have the money and did not have anyone to go with.
This all changed about five months ago, when I was at a committee meeting for IUDM and the idea of skydiving FTK was brought up in conversation. We were told that we would have the opportunity, come fall semester, to go skydiving in Indianapolis with a teddy bear attached to our stomachs. The purpose of the teddy bear was to give a Riley kid the "most courageous teddy bear" to get them through whatever sickness, disease, or birth defect they may have.
This gave me an idea. Not only did I always want to go skydiving, but the thought of doing it for something that I am passionate about made me even more eager to try it. In the middle of the summer, the informational email finally arrived in my inbox. Multiple people on my community had tried and tried to get through to them on the phone line, but no one had any luck until I called. The man answered the phone and I told him that I wanted to sign up for the IUDM skydiving event, so I gave him my credit card number. This is it, I thought. I am finally going to do something that I have always wanted to do.
When the day finally arrives, six other people from my committee pile into a car with me and drive two hours to Frankfurt, Indiana. We pay the rest of the cost, sign our lives away, and watch the introductory video. Hours beyond hours pass by until we finally see our names arrive on the board, suit up, and then get told that the weather has gone bad and we won't be able to jump until tomorrow. Obviously devastated, but still adamant about jumping, we schedule our new jump for nine o'clock the following morning.
The next morning arrives, and the five of us that didn't get to jump the day before pile back into the car for the two hour road trip, although the stop at Dunkin' Donuts certainly makes up for the inconvenience. We arrive at the airport and immediately get suited up. We all sit around, doodle on our own hands, and try to decide what we're going to say. Then, we walk outside and snap some pictures before take-off. We all pile into the small airplane. When the plane takes off, it finally hits me--I am literally about to jump out of a f@#$%ing airplane. We get higher and higher, and my tandem skydiving buddy started tightening the straps on my harness and clipping me to his harness. He then gives me the instructions on what I am supposed to do when I'm dropped out of the plane. He tells me to put on my goggles, and then we open the door.
By this point, my entire body is out of the airplane but his body is still inside. He rolls back and forth two times, and then BAM. I look through my goggles, and we are flipping out of an airplane. I get a tap on my shoulder, indicating that I can let go of my harness and free fall with my arms out. The photographer is falling next to us; my partner and I have our own personal paparazzi.
Side note: free-falling is honestly the most exhilarating feeling I have ever experienced, and I suggest everyone try it. We fall through the clouds, and my partner tells me that he is going to release the parachute. Once released, you can hear everything, when you could only hear the scream of the wind before; you're just floating in the air.
Eventually we landed, and I looked back on what I just did. I looked at my committee director, and ran to give her a hug. Shaky knees and all, we walked back inside to take off our harnesses. Once free, I grabbed my phone and texted my sister to assure her that I was alive and that my feet were on the ground. Then I called my mom. Though she had known I signed up to go skydiving, I didn't actually tell her I was going on that day. She answered the phone and asked me how I was and I told her I had never been better. She said "that's great," and asked me why, and I told her I had just jumped 14,000 ft. out of an airplane.
The phone line went silent for a few seconds, and then I heard, "are you f@#$%ing kidding me." She congratulated me on my courage, and was happy that I was safe and sound. After we all assured our loved ones that we were on the ground, we wrote a note for the Riley kid who will receive our bear and placed the bears in a box. Thinking about it now, skydiving was, without a doubt, the most life-changing, exhilarating experience of my entire life; but being able to do it for a cause I am so passionate about made it even more worthwhile.
