Finally Flying

                When I was nine years old, my mother took my sisters and me to Michigan’s Adventure for a fun filled day. The one thing I remember most was the ride called Rip Cord that I went on with my sisters. This ride consists of strapping up to three people in a harness connected to a rope, raising you to the very intimidating height of 300 feet, and dropping you so you fly through the air. I remember thinking that I have never felt such a rush in my entire life and that I wanted to do it again. While I was laughing my head off, my sister was screaming and crying. Apparently not everyone likes the feelings of their stomach dropping and seeing the ground coming closer and closer. I relished it.

     Ever since that time, I have been telling myself that someday, I want to experience the same feelings that I had while riding the Rip Cord. This past summer, my dream came true. For my birthday, my parents bought me a ticket for skydiving and I was ecstatic. I picked a day to go and my parents volunteered to drive, which later I realized was an incredible blessing. We pulled up to the place where I was supposed to skydive and was quite surprised at what I found. This place was a line of garages with tiny planes in each garage. I was positive that we were in the wrong place but according to the signs, this was my destination.

      I walked up to the desk to sign in and was informed that the plane was currently being worked on and I would have to wait until the plane was fixed before we could go into the air. The lady at the desk decided to crack a joke and say “Well, at least you are planning on jumping out of the plane so you have nothing to fear!” Let me tell you how reassuring that was; not at all. From then, I went to meet the guy who would be strapped to me while jumping out of the plane. Again, I was not reassured. This guy was a head shorter than me and at least forty years older. My worries were building.

 

My Instructor and I

 

      After an hour of waiting, I was told that the plane was fixed and we were ready to go. From then, everything went fast. They put my harness on and piled me into the back of this miniscule plane. I had to sit behind the pilots chair on the floor with three other guys. We were a pile of limbs. The plane took off and I waved goodbye to my watching parents.

Me Sitting on the Plane's Floor

      I watched the ground slowly disappear as we flew through the clouds and all I could do was pray. We finally got to our point of jumping which was ten thousand feet in the air. All of the sudden, the other two guys in the plane opened a side door, yelled “good luck!” and jumped. My jumping partner looked at me and gave me the signal to climb closer to the door. I scooted to the open door and stuck my feet out on the wings. Before I even knew what happened, we were tumbling through the air and finally flattened out on our stomachs and began to fly. I felt my stomach drop and my adrenalin shoot sky high and I was having the time of my life.

      I loved the feel of the wind whipping at my face, drawing tears out of my eyes, and chapping my cheeks. Even the sting of the brutal wind was welcomed. I remember feeling like I was on top of the world. Everything seemed so small and insignificant: I couldn’t even see humans from the distance I was at. I have never experienced something so amazing in my entire life.

Getting Ready to Land

        I soon floated back down to earth where the instructor unstrapped me and told me we were done and I was free to leave. He seemed so unaffected by the entire experience while I am shaking with the excitement and adrenalin. Who knew that jumping from ten thousand feet in the air could feel so good? I experienced nature in a whole different way up in the sky and I would do it again and again.

At the End