Sky Diving

Husband's family arrived in town on Wednesday for his brother's wedding on Saturday. We had planned to go sky diving on Friday with his brother, Charly and his sister in-law, Rachel. However, for those of you who live in Utah, it was extremely stormy and rainy. So, Friday's plans were ruined, much to the dismay of Charly and the rest of us.

However, the wedding day was BEAUTIFUL and the bride and groom were as happy as can be. Lucky for us, the reception and all the other wedding festivities ended early in the day, so Husband, Charly, Rachel and I headed to Ogden to hopefully catch a plane ride, high in the sky.

We arrived around 5, and started the preparation for our flight - we put our diving suits on, and received some instructions. To the north the sky was beginning to darken, and we knew if we didn't head up soon, we wouldn't be able to.

I was more anxious than nervous as I have always wanted to sky dive. My dear friend, Suzy, was able to go a couple of years ago and I was crazy jealous, and then I'd hear of friends here and there who went. Again, jealous.

And here I was, climbing into a plane, ascending to sky, where I was going to be able to join the ranks of those who have jumped before me.

My tandom instructor, Farris, strapped me to him and his parachute and instructed me further as to how to best jump. As we got higher, we entered the clouds and could see snow and ice surrounding the plane. Technically we weren't supposed to jump through clouds, but we prepared to do so anyway.

Charly jumped first of all of us. He's working on certifying and he has already been 17 times so he jumped solo. His wife, Rachel, is also working on certifying, this was her second jump, however, she went solo with an instructor by her side.

I would jump next, then Husband.

As I scooted to the door, I was nervously excited. And then next thing I knew, I was falling.

It was exhilerating. The force of falling was intense. It felt like major pressure, and I had to remind myself to breathe. I didn't feel that "stomach in the throat" experience that comes from amusement park rides, which generally tends to make the experience less than desireable. And the good thing was, we jumped into the cloud, so I couldn't see a thing, but I had the wind and snow pelting my face, but I paid no mind to it as all I could think of was how cool it was!

I exited the clouds and enjoyed the incredible view of falling from 12, 500 feet towards the earth. The moment my instructor pulled the chute, I felt a moment of weightlessness as we had stopped free-falling, but the chute hadn't deployed completely, so there wasn't the jerk upward that came a moment later when we would then more slowly descend. It was amazing.

We coasted toward the earth, enjoying a spiral here and there as we headed to our landing site.

When my butt hit the earth, and I was on solid ground, I was sad that it was all over, because it was the time of my life!

Husband and I can't wait to go again...however, that will have to wait for awhile, but go again we shall!