Skydiving

It's become a tradition for me to do something a little crazy or out of the ordinary for my birthday. About a month ago I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do to celebrate and I came up with Skydiving. I had wanted to skydive for a while, but never really looked into it. I told some friends and family that I was going to go skydiving. Several people contemplated joining me, but it came down to just my brother Reed and my friend Amanda that decided to make the jump.I scheduled our jumps for Saturday the 5th, 2 days before my birthday. The weather has been horrible for June, but we got lucky and Saturday was a beautiful day. Once we got to the field we all felt pretty good about our decision to skydive. It was comforting to see that there were lots of people there, and we even saw a few groups suit up, take off, skydive and land. It was reassuring to see them land and come off the field smiling and saying it was the best experience.Getting suited up wasn't the most comfortable. I was glad that I wasn't a boy, because as is there seemed to be some discomfort in the crotch area with all the straps and harnesses going on. Safety before comfort! We took a few pictures of us all suited up, met our tandem instructors, and then loaded onto the plane.It was an interesting 15 to 20 minutes in the plane while we got to the right altitude. It was loud and we were all sitting between eachothers legs, facing toward the door we would ultimately jump out of. Once we got up to the correct altitude our instructors helped us with our helmets and goggles, tightened our harnesses and clicked us into the connectors on their chests. The door opened and we did an awkward scoot toward the door. As I saw Reed and his instructor drop out my heart began to pound a bit harder. I scooted more. Saw Amanda and her instructor drop out and spin into the air. At this point we are at the door and my heels are touching the bottom of the plane. "one.. two - go" and we were spinning into the air. It was an exhilarating feeling. It didn't feel like falling as much as it felt like flying. Never once in the air did it cross my mind that I could die if something went wrong. It was just surreal.
We all landed safely and agreed that we would go again if we could afford it. The adrenalin was strong and even though I was no longer nervous my hands were shaky for another 15 minutes or so. It was an absolutely amazing experience, one I'm sure I'll do again!