Jumping from a plane

Today has been an interesting day to say the least. After days and days of gorgeous weather yesterday it started pouring down rain. Not just a little rain but major dumpingt. Ugh!! My stress level totally jumped up wondering if the weather was going to permit us to jump after all the planning for the past year. For those that don't know...this was a Father's Day gift for Derek!!

So, I've been planning this for nearly a year. I kept it a secret from Derek all that time. A few days ago I made a comment about something and Derek said he thought he knew what we were doing. I said yeah right...then he straight out asked if we were skydiving. I can't lie when asked directly so that was the end of the secret. He was excited about it though.
So this morning I woke up and it was cloudy so I called Skydive Snohomish to see what was going on with the flights. They said they wouldn't cancel it at that point because the sun was out a little bit and might burn off most of the clouds. So all day I watched the clouds and they were messing with me. They would come and go. I called the company again about 1.5 hours before our scheduled time and they said to come on in and see what happens. They said it would be easier to send us if we were there.

So off we went and my anxiety level sky rocketed. I was tapping my fingers, feet and squishing my fingers without really noticing. So we started filling out the paperwork and I had to stop reading it because it wasn't making anything better. It said...Skydiving is not safe...great! Just what I wanted to hear, right?? We eventually found out we were going to be in the 3rd/last group for that time slot, so I decided I needed a margarita since we were told we had about an hour wait. I figured it would calm my nerves a bit.

There was a bar on the airfield so we headed on over. Addie was sitting on my lap and told me she wanted to go in a plane. I told her she couldn't go in a plane but we could go look at some planes that were next to the restaurant. As we were looking at a little two seater plane some guy got in it and asked if we wanted to go in it. So we got on in and went for a ride with some random guy named Dwayne. Addie loved it. We went up, did a big circle around the airport and came down. He told us that when he was a kid he would hang out around the airport hoping someone would take him for a ride so when he sees people that look like they would love a ride he takes them up. It was so random and just perfect. After we got back on the ground I was totally calm and ready to go.

Then it was about time for us to head over and get ready for our jump. We were doing a tandem jump which means we were connected to someone who is licensed for tandem jumping and has a ton of experience. I was set up with Kelly. I had requested to be connected to him. He is the older brother a friend of mine, Casey, that I knew since Jr. High. Casey was also a skydiver. He loved it and was always trying to get his friends to go diving. Awesome guy...he died in October 2007 in a plane crash with 9 others when they were on their return home from a skydiving event in Idaho. So, anyway...I was attached to Kelly who has nearly 4000 jumps. He was awesome.

So, up in the plane we went and traveled to 13,000 feet. It was me, Derek, Stacy, Jack and his friend Brian. There were also a few individual divers. So the singles went, then Derek went first out of our group. I scooted up, looked out the side of the plane and saw Derek falling through the sky!! Then away we went...with a few "accidental" barrell rolls as we jumped out of the plane. It is the most amazing feeling ever. It doesn't feel like you are falling, just flying through the air...very quickly. I had been so scared but it was so much different than I could ever imagine. It looked amazing and felt amazing, then all of sudden we slowed down and the parachute was out. I got to do a bit a steering and we chatted with Derek a little bit. he asked what we were going to do next year for Father's Day. Brat!! He said it was the best Father's Day gift ever.
So...I know a lot of you think I was crazy...I have to agree. I never had any intention of going. I only decided to go because I knew I wouldn't be able to see Derek's enjoyment if I wasn't there with him, or have any idea what it was that I gave him. So I went. Plus, knowing how much Casey loved it made me curious about it. It was a phenomenal experience and although I know it sounds crazy it was the most amazing experience of my life aside from seeing my children for the first time. It definately rates right up there with it though.

So...I just wanted to share my experience with all of you. Thank you all so much for being so excited and worried for me!! I will put pics and videos up soon!! Probably Monday!!