Well, this
summer I went to Germany, France, England, and all over Italy, graduated, and
spoke at convocation. At the end of August, I started my masters program in
Marriage and Family Therapy at BYU (which I love!). Now that life has gotten
back into a steady pace, I decided that it was about time to spice it up! So—to
keep from getting bored—I decided it was time to jump out of a plane. Yes, I
went skydiving!
This cheesy smile was plastered on my face for hours
I went with
my friend Kevin Gee in Tuella, Utah. We actually tried to go last weekend, but
the plane broke before we went up. I know what you're going to say (because my
grandma and about 47 other people already have), "So you went to get back
on that dysfunctional plane?" But hey, if it breaks again—at least I have
a parachute—it was probably the safest I've ever been on a plane.
I could not
stop smiling on the drive to Tuella, I was so excited! When we arrived, I met
the man who would be filming my jump and taking pictures; he works in the music
industry full time, knows Justin Bieber, and complimented my Bieber Fever
bowling league shirt (everyone else just gave me a hard time haha I truly
thought I was going to wear a jump suit...didn't give much thought to my
wardrobe). I wasn't at all nervous about skydiving UNTIL—that is—I met my
instructor, Blake. Not that he didn't have adequate experience; on the
contrary, he has been doing this full time for the last 30 years. The problem
was that he decided that the walk to the plane would be a good time to tell me
about all the skydiving mishaps and fatalities in the last few years. Who does
that? More than anything though, he just made me laugh. I was overly jittery on
the plane ride up and resorted to talking everyone's ears off in attempt to
distract myself.
And then, in
what seemed like seconds, we had reached 13,000 feet and were ready to
jump! Before I could wrap my mind around
it all, I saw my 6'5" friend, Kevin, jump out of the plane with his
5'6" instructor (yeah—it was a sight! Their landing was pretty epic as well).
Then, it was my turn. I put my feet over the ledge, looked down and felt like I
had no perception of depth. I rocked backwards, listened to Blake (my
instructor) count "1, 2, 3!" and—like nothing—did a gainer out of the
plane! Free falling though the air was amazing! I know we were going fast, but
I had no perception of my speed or the rate I was falling at. With the help of
the wind blowing my cheeks upward, I'm pretty positive that I had a bigger,
cheesier smile on my face than ever before.
We did a gainer out of the plane!
It was amazing to b so high above the ground!
Blake didn't love my hair in his face. Fortunately for me, I was a little too preoccupied to notice
Blake got scared and hid in my hair.
The free fall
only lasted about a minute, and then Blake pulled the parachute. I guess I
don't need to explain the details of that, but gliding down was just as amazing
as the free fall. We did all sorts of spins and I could steer the chute
wherever my heart pleased. My favorite part was the stalls—which give you the
sensation of weightlessness. The whole thing only lasted about 6 or 7 minutes,
but it was 7 minutes of absolute bliss! My landing went pretty well—Blake and I
stayed on our feet, but then kind of staggered around like drunks before
regaining our balance...My ears were plugged for the next 3 hours, but it was worth
it! Skydiving was amazing—being able to float above the clouds and to look down
on the world! Let's just say this is not going to be a once in a lifetime
experience, I want to go again, and hopefully soon!
Landed on our feet!
My instructor. The one who decided to tell me stories about skydiving fatalities before I jumped...
