Mission Accomplished: I Went Skydiving!!!

This morning I met my sister at 6:15 to ride to meet my parents. We all rode went together, so they could watch me skydive. We got to the Skydiving Place about 7:45. At 8:00, I started filling out the paperwork. WOW, the paperwork. I had to initial and sign more places than you could imagine. It was almost as long as my home mortgage paperwork!

They showed me a video which went into detail about possible skydiving injuries, and how I could not sue them, etc. The atmosphere was completely laid back, and they people were a lot of fun. They made different jokes like, "If you keep your eyes closed the parachute won't open."

When I asked who would be my tandem jumper, they said, "Oh, he is out back sobering up." Larry was the coolest guy. He really has a passion for what he does. I was his 2550th tandem jump. He really kept talking with me, and kept me at ease the whole time.

Here was one of the coolest things: Nobody thought I was weird. I was not out of place. They didn't look at me and go, "Like Heck you can go skydiving being the size of an elephant." I was normal to them. The harnesses that went around my upper thighs not only fit, there was room to spare. My instructor lifted me up THREE times off the ground to make sure they were really tight. (I freaked out, a man was able to lift me. This has never happened in my adult life.)

At 10:15, it was time to board the plane. The plane would take us up to 14,000, and we would be falling at approximately 120 miles per hour. Everyone else was was experienced jumpers. I was the only tandem first time jumper. I had decided to get my trip videoed as well.

Then it was my turn: I am at the cargo door on my knees, and the wind is blowing about 100 mph. I was so scared. (Up until this point, I had not been scared, but very excited.) I kept putting my hands on the door to hold myself in. Larry kept crossing them over me. He did this three times, and on the third time, we left!

The freefall was AMAZING!!!! I have never felt anything like it before. The cameraman was very goofy, and I was smiling at him almost the entire time. Then the parachute opened up, and that was a relief. At that point, I was able to navigate (with Larry's help) the parachute. We did some sharp curves and made some corkscrew formations in the sky.

The landing was very easy. I would skydive again in a HEARTBEAT!!! What a freeing experience it was to not have my weight be a hinderance to me in this venture. Today was so different, I felt like I had truly physically let go of 216.6 pounds.

I should have the DVD in a few weeks. I am compiling pictures, but they are coming from three different digital cameras, so I will post those when I get them finished.

BLUE SKIES!!!