Skydiving

My nerves had been building up from the moment the plane left the ground. Now I am standing 2nd in line to jump from this cursed plane into the open air. The two men in front of me simply disappear before my eyes. My thoughts are running wild. It would have been better for me to have gone first so I wouldn't have to watch them jump off. I can't see them at all out the door. How am I to know that they are still alive. What if something happened?

My guide indicates that it is our turn. He gestures me to slide my feet out so that they are standing on a small slender ledge, located just below the door. I grab onto the wing strut support for dear life! My mind imagines that the scratches on the side of the plane are left there from the fingernails of those who had gone before me, desperately clawing their way back to safety.

The horrid jump master signals that it is time to jump. I raise my right foot up as we were trained, so that it is flapping in the wind. 2000 feet below me I can see the ground. How stupid was I for wanting to do this. The wind thunders around my head and the jump master yells, "JUMP! LET GO!" After what seems like years, I finally summon up the courage to take that final step.


It was not as I expected at all. There wasn't much of a falling sensation. The earth was just becoming larger and larger. The wind was whipping through my ears. At the right moment, I reached back and opened my parachute. I look up and greatly relieved, see it billowing out above me. My velocity slows down and now the parachute allows me to slowly drift towards the earth. It is the greatest thing in the world just floating through the air. Buildings and landscape begins to become clearer and now the feeling that I'm falling finally sinks in. I hit the ground on target and roll in the five points previously taught. Checking myself to make sure nothing is hurt, I prepare to do it again!

(Never having been skydiving myself, I interviewed my Dad for the information above.) I would give skydiving a rank of 10 and I can't wait to get out there and try it myself someday!