“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (Mark Twain)
The day was December 12, 2014. I will never forget it. It was my birthday.
My boyfriend said that he had something good planned for me but wouldn’t tell me where we were going. I had nervous anticipation. I was soon to be caught completely off guard.
We rode for an hour and all I saw was country roads and land. We were out in the middle of nowhere! So I naturally kept asking him where we were going.
“You will find out when we get where were going”, he said.
About five minutes later my heart started rushing and pounding because I could feel the excitement building up inside of me. I think my boyfriend took a certain kind of pleasure in my suffering.
Soon we passed a billboard that said “skydiving 5 miles ahead”.
“Ahhhh, Pierce are we going skydiving?”
“Yes we are Mel, thanks for ruining the surprise”, my boyfriend Pierce said.
When we got there, I refused to get out the car. I told him I was not jumping out of a plane. He explained how he had already paidd for us to jump and there were no refunds.
I didn’t care! I was terrified and scared of getting on the plane and jumping. Anything could happen!
But, I finally gave in and agreed to skydive. Why not? As soon as we stepped in the facility the people were nice and calming . . . that was until they pulled out the liability waiver and started using words like “accident”, “die”, and “death”. That was not really something I wanted to hear before jumping out a plane.
As we began to suit up for sky diving my heart began to beat even faster. I couldn’t believe that I agreed to do this.
When they called our names, we were introduced to our skydivers and they reassured me that everything was going to be okay.
After loading the plane, they told me that we were going 14,000 feet up in the air. We were past the clouds. As the plane started to climb, it began shaking, which made me more nervous than ever. Especially this being my first time on a plane.
The time had come. It was time for us to jump. My boyfriend insisted that he jump first and he did just that. Then it was time for me to jump, the guy counted to three and out of the plane I went. My instructor and did at least 4 flips in the air. We did a free fall for at least 30 seconds and then he pulled the string.
I couldn’t believe I had jumped out of a plane. This was on my bucket list but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. When I landed on the ground, my boyfriend was waiting for me and said, “Happy Birthday”.
After I had regrouped myself I called my family members to tell them of my adventure. They were shocked. My grandma was a little panicked and made me promise to never do that again.
Overall, this was the best birthday I had ever had. Skydiving opened my mind to new adventures. This experience help me understand that live life to its’ fullest you sometimes have to step outside the box. I’m glad that I went through with it that day because it truly gave me memories for a lifetime. I will cherish them forever.
I also can’t wait for my life’s next adventure.