words can not describe…, originally uploaded by A.p.K.
(this photo was shot by the skydiving videographer/photographer that documented my experience)
I can honestly say, I wasn’t particularly nervous until I was at the door of the plane, looking down, the air rushing past, the jumpmaster counting to three, then -
~ weightless, freedom, flight ~
- time stopped, or maybe that was just my heart…I tried to breath, but the air being forced through my head and lungs was doing it for me – I tried to shout a few things to the camera, tried to look around, take it all in, but it was, quite simply, complete sensory overload.
I wish I could have taken my camera up with me, but I doubt I would have had the full presence of mind and faculty of motor-skills to actually use it. Apparently the helmet-cams of the skydiving videographers do just as good a job (the photo with this post is of me, taken by a bullet of a woman whose energy and enthusiasm was unreal – she’d jumped minutes before she jumped again with me, and I barely had a chance to thank her upon landing before she was back up in the plane for another dive).
My jumpmaster was a bare-footed fast-talking crazy man – apparently both of his parents were skydivers, and his first jump was in the womb – who promised to take good care of me. Twenty-six years of skydiving experience was all I needed to know about as he cinched me into the harness and gave me a very quick run-down of procedure. I had absolute confidence in him, because really, in order to bring myself to this brink of insanity, I had to trust absolutely the person taking me for the ride. I’d signed the paperwork, paid the money, and knew that if dozens of people do this every day, my odds of surviving were pretty good. It’s being able to find the mindset to actually enjoy it that could have been a huge challenge.
Enjoying the ride turns out to have been the easiest part. Once you’re at the door of the plane, with the world spread out below, all there is to do is jump. No time to think about it, to wonder or to worry – your brain is just trying to comprehend the very surreal circumstances of the moment, and the thrill is so implausible and vivid all at once…
I could have spent all day up there, or even better, I could have never come down. On the steep and speedy flight up to 15,000 feet, one of the jumpmasters said “You’re about to find out why the birds sing” – my envy of birds and their freedom in flight has always been inescapable, and now, having had a taste of the sky, I’m pretty sure he was right. I would do it again in a heartbeat – I am not a fan of heights, I am not an adrenaline-junkie, but jumping out of a plane tested my courage and confidence in ways that have not been tried in a long time. Everytime I look up at the sky now, I remember what it felt like to be “up there” – my heart jumps and I can see further than before…
I needed this. Don’t doubt yourself, if you think that skydiving is something you *might* want to do – just do it – you’ll be so glad you did!
