Day 827 - The One Where We Jumped Out of a Plane

This blog exists mainly as an outlet for me to document and remember the important events in the lives of my kids. That being said though, there are definitely those occasional moments in my own life that either I just find really interesting or that I personally believe needs to be documented. An example of the latter would be last Friday when Bethany and I celebrated 10 years of marriage by jumping out of a plane.

Jumping out of a plane wasn't our first choice for celebrating our anniversary though. Last fall, Bethany and I began planning an anniversary trip to Maine and Prince Edward Island, Canada. Unfortunately, the current state of the world made that trip a no-go and we needed to find an alternative plan. 

Fast forward to last Wednesday when Bethany and I began brainstorming potential things to do on our actual anniversary. Somewhat flippantly, I suggested iFly, an indoor skydiving experience in Overland Park, might be fun. Once we discovered that iFly was still closed due to the pandemic, Bethany suggested that we should just do the real thing. 

After a little bit of research, we discovered that Falcon Skydiving, an elite skydiving team located in nearby Walden, was still open for business. Not only that, but they still had timeslots available for tandem dives on the morning of our anniversary. So, with great trepidation, we made our reservation and our plans were officially set. We would be celebrating our tenth (and hopefully not last) anniversary by jumping out of a plane.

Actually, here is the point where I need to specify that I was the one experiencing trepidation. After Bethany suggested skydiving, it took me 15 or 20 minutes to work up the nerve to even call and make the reservation. Once the big day arrived though, my trepidation kicked into pure nervousness and anxiousness. After all, if man were meant to fly, God would have given him wings, right?

Upon our arrival at the airfields, we were ushered into a back room to sign a litany of waivers. Seriously, it was four pages, front AND back. Then, we watched a video where the inventor of the tandem skydive proceeded to explain the waivers we had just finished signing while simultaneously letting us know everything that could go wrong. By the time that video ended, even the one that followed of a girl having an absolutely wonderful time skydiving couldn't calm my nerves.

Note the look of nervousness on my face compared to sheer elation on Bethany's.

After that, it was time to head back into the main waiting area and get in our harnesses for the jump. At this point, Bethany was sure to remind me that I didn't have to jump if I was too nervous or scared. That being said, I felt like I didn't have much of a choice. After all, I would have hated to live with the knowledge that I had wimped out and not gone skydiving. As I watched the first half of our group go up in the plane and jump out, I wish I could say my nerves lessened. That would be a lie though.

Before I knew it, the time had come for us to enter the plane. Following my tandem instructor, Will, onto the plane, I took my seat on a long bench directly in front of him so that he could link our harnesses together. During the long flight up to 14,000 feet, I found myself going through a repetitive cycle of prayer, asking lots of nervous questions, and anxiously looking out the clear door of the plane at the clear skies that lay just beyond the glass. Actually, it probably wasn't glass but that doesn't really matter.

As we got closer to our jump height, Will decided that we should definitely go first since I was more nervous than Bethany. Like any good instructor, he wanted me to get the experience I had paid for. Finally the time had come. We worked our way to the door with me kneeling on the floor in front of Will, my head leaned back against his shoulder, and my feet tucked up and nearly touching his behind. Then, before I knew what had happened, Will thrust the two of us out of the plane into the great unknown.

The first 60 seconds of our dive honestly exists solely as a blur in my mind. Most of what I remember is the epic amounts of air pressure, the complete and total inability to hear anything, clutching tightly to my harness, and just gazing at the horizon. In case you're wondering, if you look down, that can make you feel sick. Therefore, I followed Will's instructions and just looked at the horizon.

Before I knew it, Will began counting down in my line of sight, letting me know that he was about to pull the chute. I braced myself a little tighter, anticipating the sudden jerk that would accompany such a motion. As soon as the chute deployed, the ride became much, much different. It changed from one of thrill to one of a gentle, relaxing ride. In fact, it was so relaxing that Will had the opportunity to point out landmarks like KCI, downtown, and the Kansas Speedway. 

Of course, there was also time for a few more thrills on the ride down. Will allowed me to take control of the chute's navigational handles for lack of a better term and coached me in executing some flawless spins in order to scrub off height. By the time we were done, we had made four tight circles and were well on our way down. 

Finally, the time had come to land. Will had coached me that my job was solely to lift my legs up so that my body was in a 'L' position. The reason for that was simple; it would keep me from breaking an ankle. It would also make for an easier landing if we had to land on our backsides. Fortunately, landing on our backsides wasn't necessary as Will's experience from his 1,600 jumps more than made up for my total lack of experience. 

Look at that hair!!!

As soon as we landed, Will quickly detached me and I was hustled out of the landing zone by the "catchers." Once I reached the safe area, I looked up expecting to see Bethany following shortly thereafter. Little did I know I would be waiting a while. 

Despite her jumping out seconds after I did, Bethany and her instructor, Baglock, would be the last ones to land. That was primarily due to Bethany weighing so much less than myself and the other two tandem pairs on our flight. Bethany and Baglock struggled to scrub off altitude quickly and found themselves having to execute circle after circle after circle in order to get down. Unfortunately for Bethany, she tends to suffer from a little motion sickness when placed in situations with intense spinning. At least she didn't barf all over Baglock like his first tandem rider of the day did though. 

Once Bethany finally landed and got unhooked, I walked over and embraced her with a big smile on my face. It was over and better yet, it had been awesome! We had both made it down and checked off a really cool bucket list item in the process.

As we joined the rest of our jump group with our first jump certificates, I took a lot of pride in knowing I had conquered my fears  instead of letting them control me. Bethany meanwhile was just taking pride in having the ability to stand and/or walk without the room spinning. That and her having survived skydiving with an untested parachute as we learned post jump. Oops. #DaddyWrite