Just Jump

Just Jump

            For those of you who don’t know me well, one of my biggest fears is falling. I dislike the feeling of falling. Dreams that involve free falling freak me out. Well, a couple of years ago, I had this fear challenged. My parents and I were in Utah as part of a family vacation, Ogden, Utah to be exact. While we were there, my dad and I stumble upon a place that had indoor skydiving. Being guys, of course we had to check it out. We walk into the place and it sounds like a jet is about to take off, but what it was a massive vertical wind tunnel. There wasn’t much discussion as to whether or not we were going to do it. We did it. So, once they had us sign all of the paper work, they put us in a room with one of their instructors who taught us proper technique to control rising and falling speed, and then we suited up and stepped into a chamber, which was a lot like the cargo hold of a plane, but made with plexiglass windows. After our session in the vertical wind tunnel, the instructor had to show off, but it was extremely cool. After leaving, we talked to mom about how much fun it had been and then decided that we wanted to go real skydiving. So we called around and found a place that had an opening for us.

            The next day dad and I woke up bright and early to travel out to the jump site hangar where we went through a long training session so that we could jump by ourselves. After the training, we suited up and boarded the plane. As we got closer to the jump zone, I began to second-guess our decision to do this, even more so when I got to the opening in the side of the plane. Our instructor took a moment to calm my nerves and on the count of three encouraged me to jump out of the plane. I am glad that I did so. It was an experience I’ll never forget.