Once Was Enough!

I’m not sorry I did it, and maybe at some date down the road I’ll try it again, but I feel no hurry to repeat my skydiving experience.

From the point of view of just knowing that you can do it, it was a very powerful thing to do. It was not all that long ago that I wouldn’t have had the courage to do this. But it’s a good exercise in mental focus – not allowing yourself to “go there”.

As the plane was going up I was getting pretty tense, and it seemed like the flight up was taking forever. In reality I think it was about 10-12 minutes. I had the extra experience of seeing my friend Ed go out right before me, and that in itself made my stomach sink.

Once out the door, it was kind of like having your mind just blown away – nothing seems to make sense to your brain. “Why are we doing this? How does this attribute to our self survival?”

What I remember most is that after the initial 2-3 seconds, there was not that feeling of losing your stomach. It was just really, really, REALLY fast, and very loud. They wanted me to do poses, smile and give them the thumbs up for pictures and video, but I would have none of it. I was just too terrified. Now looking back at the photos and video, I wish I would have pushed myself to do it just to have a single good photo! Seeing yourself and your skin being stretched by 150 mph winds does nothing for your self image.

Once the shoot was pulled it was a much easier ride down, something I can’t imagine anybody not enjoying. It was peaceful, smooth and a great view of everything.

The landing was slow and easy, and we landed in a sitting position.

I’ll have more photos and eventually a video cut of the experience. While I wouldn’t do it again, I’m very glad that I did it today.