My friend Nikki’s 30th birthday was approaching. Myself and four girlfriends were trying to come up with a special way for her to celebrate it. Nikki had always wanted to go skydiving, so we decided that we were going to kidnap her the day of and surprise her with pushing her out of a plane. As we discussed the plans more and more, we decided it may be best to share our “gift” with her beforehand, just in case.

She was in love with the idea and so were we, well most of us. Nikki and I were excited, the other girls, while enthusiastic, weren’t the same level of excited as we were. Since Nikki was on board, it was time to start making the arrangements! We called and made our reservations.

With the reservations set, there was no backing out. This thing was on! Oh lord, were we really doing this?!

Before we knew it, the day had arrived! We woke up early and made our way to Skydive City in Zephyrhills, FL. Zephyrhills also happens to be my hometown so the thought of getting to see the city from a perspective of 13,500 feet was exciting. My mom wanted to come watch but I told her not to. For some reason I had it in my head that if my mom was there, then something was going to go wrong. I told her that I loved her and I would call her afterward but she could not come down and watch.

As we arrive, I can feel the butterflies in my stomach. They weren’t the scared butterflies, they were the “Hell Yeah, Let’s Do This” kind. We walked into the office and checked in. The woman gave us all the waivers to sign. It was a beautiful day so we decided to take the waivers outside and review them. Anything and everything that you would picture a waiver for skydiving saying, this one said. About one or two paragraphs into reading it, I decided that this was happening no matter what so there really wasn’t a point in reading the entire thing. So we signed our forms and turned them in.

Signing the waivers

We had a bit of time before our jump time, so we watched the group before us take off, jump and return safely to the ground. We also ran into a guy that works there. He gave us a tour of the “Wing Suit Room”. If you are not familiar with wingsuits, you must check them out. You Tube has some great videos of wingsuits! This is something I would never say I wouldn’t try but not something that I would actually try.

After we were done talking with the wingsuit guy, they called us to meet our instructors. This was the part where they got us suited up and went over all the safety stuff. My instructor was Tom. Tom was a jokster and I liked that about him. He had me laughing so much I don’t think I heard most of what he said. Hopefully I got all the important parts!

Next time we would touch this ground, it would be after jumping 13, 500 Feet

The plane was something you see in the movies. The kind that crashes in the jungle and the survivors have to plan their escape and hope to be rescued. Perhaps better stated, You would rather jump out of it, then try to land in it.  I’m not trying to be funny here, well maybe just a tad funny, but it is the truth! They use planes like that on purpose, encourage you to jump! I was on to their game!

The Plane, where it all begins!

Time to take off!! Once we were in the plane, our instructors attached themselves to each of us. Not tightly attached, just attached. I kept asking if we were attached all the way. He kept giving me the same answer, “you will know when we are”. He was not joking there, when he full on attached I could barely breathe. For the next 10 minutes, Tom was my new best friend!

There was a group of us doing tandem and there was a group that was doing jumps with no free falls. We reached somewhere around 9,000 or 10,000 feet and dropped off the group before us. After they jumped, we continued out climb to 13,500 feet.

During the ascent to our jumping altitude, the instructors were having a grand time with us. Nothing like having the guy strapped to your back telling you he forgot one of the safely straps!! Just for the record, I wasn’t buying it at first. Him and the other instructors kept playing it up. I told him to quit bleeping messing with me. He said that he wasn’t. The look in his eyes when he made that comment, I broke down and asked if he was serious. He started laughing! He got me, but it took a while!

Tom and I in the plane

Before we knew it the moment of truth had arrived, time to jump! My instructor and I were last of the bunch to go. By the time it was our turn we had missed the jump window. So we had to wait while they turned the plane around. Once the plane was back in the jump zone, it was go time! We shuffled our way to the door on our knees and peeked out heads out the door. I did a happy wave at the camera guy then looked down at the earth below us. I will be honest, this was the one moment that I had the thought, “what the f&^% am I doing”. I remember my handing reaching back toward the plane but before it could get there, we were out the door!!!

Posing for the camera

This was the ride of a lifetime!! 60 seconds of free fall felt like an eternity and the fastest minute of my life. How could it be the fasted and slowest moment of my life,  have no idea!! If you have been skydiving before, you know the feeling.

People always ask me, did you have the feeling you get when you ride a roller coaster and your stomach gets that feeling in it, you know the one, where your stomach flies up to your heart. Didn’t have that sensation once. It was a gliding feeling. Truly amazing!

Free Falling

You are flying through the air at 120 mph. The wind in your face, your thoughts running wild and a camera guy capturing it all on film (always get the video, its worth the extra money). During the free fall you can’t hear anything, so in the training session they go over hand signals so you can communicate to one another during that time frame.

Office With A View

I found myself wondering when are we pulling the parachute, is it time yet? Then I saw the camera guy pull his and I knew that we would be right behind him. All of a sudden, Tom pulled the chute and there was a big jerk! Success, chute opened (BIG sigh of relief, whew) and we begin to fall back to earth. First thing he says to me, “Welcome to my Office”. Have to say, that was by far the coolest thing he could have said in that moment.

Now here is where my story takes a turn from the “ideal jump”. And don’t worry, Ill tell you the end now, I make it! So as we are enjoying of glide back down to the ground, he starts to spin us in circles. Started out great but my stomach had other thoughts. Mainly, stop doing it or I’m going to make you stop. So I let my instructor know that I felt like I was going to be sick. He promptly stopped spinning us, ahh, relief.

That was short-lived, unfortunately. My legs and arms started to tingle all while I was starting to get tunnel vision. Anyone who has ever passed out before knows what was about to happen next wasn’t a good thing, especially as we weren’t on the ground yet. Since I knew that in the next few seconds I would be, as you would refer to as passed out, I warned my instructor. It went something like this:

Me: Hey I’m not going to get sick anymore
Him: That’s great!
Me: Not really because I’m going to pass out
Him: NO, we will be on the ground in 30 seconds
me…………silence

Yep, with only 30 seconds from touching down I passed out. All my friends were already on the ground and were able to watch me stone cold out as we landed! Special thanks to my instructor as he kicked my legs out as we landed so I didn’t break them.

Just Hanging Out While Passed Out

I am sure you are wondering, “How did you pass out?” I wish I could tell you or have a really cool explanation as to why that happened but I have no idea. There was a lot of talk once we got on the ground as to what happened. Nobody really knows though. What I do know is when he pulled the chute, he wanted to loosen my legs straps and I told him I was good and not to do it. This is the only thing I can think of that would cause it. Note to anyone who wants to try skydiving, let the guy loosen your leg straps.

So there you have it, my first skydiving experience! Definitely one for the books, or dare I say blog.

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