skydiving

This post is at the request of my friend, Rachel. :) We had so much fun, you'll have to come with us next time! 

Yesterday I got to cross the second number off my bucket list. #2 Skydive!! It was terrifying and intoxicating, and I'm already planning a second trip. ;)

 This is me. Way up there, having the time of my life! :)

I knew, based on previous experiences, that the plane ride was going to be super hard for me. I always have panic attacks, (where it's literally hard for me to breath, and I get jittery, shaky, and feel sick.), so I was expecting it. About a week before I asked informed my big brother that I needed him to hold my hand. Luckily, he was seated right across the aisle from me as was more than happy to try to calm me down. Looking back, it totally cracks me up because at one point I had him holding my hand and telling me that it was gonna be okay, my instructor talking me through it, and Andrew's instructor trying to calm me down as well. But I survived the plane ride, didn't hyperventilate, or faint, so we're good!

It took about ten minutes to gain 13,000 feet in elevation. Everyone is seated on benches, squished together like sardines, attached to their various tandem instructors. Once the plane reaches the correct elevation, the door is opened, (everyone's heart stops temporarily,) and one by one, extremely rapidly though, each "group" scooches forward until they reach the door. The instructors don't really give you time to think about it. Basically the moment you reach the door, they push you out, and suddenly I am free-falling, plummeting 13,000 feet towards the earth. I think I held my breath in extreme terror for about 20 seconds, and then I realized that I was I fine, I was strapped to a trained professional, and this was the coolest thing ever!!!!!!!! Free-falling was exhilarating, and I totally understand why those guys decided to become instructors, and get paid to do it 30+ times a day. I cannot even explain how amazing it was. There was a lot of wind pressure, but I was having too much fun to even notice, really. I was little disappointed when he pulled the chute. ;) But the  panoramic views from up there were stunning! We could see about 5 different mountains, and so far it was amazing. The instructor steered us in a lot of twirly loops, which was soo much fun. I expected to get dizzy, but was pleasantly surprised that I didn't. :) I decided not to steer the chute because of my shoulder injuries, (dislocated it when I was three weeks old, and it's been totally messed up ever since,) and I felt that the steering would be painful.  

The only unpleasant part about this, (besides the panic attack in the plane, of course.) was that I'm having a weird breakout of blisters on my lips. Mom thinks it has to do with the high fever I had earlier in the week, but whatever the case, my lips are/were covered in blisters, and are super, super painful, and the free-falling made it even worse. Hopefully next time I won't be dealing with that! haha

I was going to apologize for the way our hair looks. But you know what. We just fell out of an airplane from 13,000 feet. I could care less about my hair at this point. ;) L to R, Cindy, Andrew (my big brother,) me, Rachel, (a bestie whom I grew up with. :)

Rachel and I tried to take a selfie, (turns out it was only the second one she's ever done.) but we were way too psyched up, so they all turned out strange, and we're laughing in most of them. :)

The landing was super easy. Basically he just told me to keep my feet up until he said to stand up. So I did, and it worked perfectly. No falling on my face, or tripping over anything. Being the klutz that I am it was great! I was a little oblivious of everything after we landed, because I was so stoked, but I do know we took some pictures, and took off all the gear. (and a word about the jump-suits. Seriously, guys. They were like a cross between pant-suits, (which are coming back, btw) and sleepers. A bad cross. Basically, they were completely unattractive. Okay. I'm done. ;)

So, I heartily recommend that you make some reservations to go skydiving as soon as possible. It was breathtaking, amazing, inspiring and so cool! I cannot wait to go again!

xx,