Maybe Tom Petty had it right after all. I really was free free fallin’.
The idea of voluntarily jumping out of a plane at approximately 14000 feet is kind of absurd. Every logical thought would go against said actions — which is precisely what makes it so exciting.
This past Sunday I embarked on an adventure that can only be described as indescribable — cliché I know. Those of you who have been skydiving can attest to the infinite number of words that fail to accurately encompass the thrill of skydiving. It really is just one of those things you have experience to understand.
What turned out to be an eight-hour adventure started out a day like any other — with a little bit more excitement of course. The two-and-half-hour drive to “middle-of nowhere” California (also known as Taft) did have a minor impact on my excitement. But upon arrival at Skydive Taft I was instantly rejuvenated.
Fast forward two more hours and I was standing on the edge of a plane looking down at the ground14000 feet below me. Was I nervous? Probably a little bit. Was I excited? Duh. But I didn’t have very long to think about it because less than five seconds later I was free fallin’ with nothing but air between the ground and me.
For 55 seconds we (Ross the instructor and I) free fell. After somersaulting out of the plane we spent another 45 seconds floating towards the ground and I was anything but terrified. The view was amazing. The feeling — for lack of a better word — was amazing. The freedom was amazing. Even the screaming wind that temporarily deafened me was amazing. In hindsight I should have been relieved when the parachute was pulled. After all that meant I had survived my encounter with potential death but instead I was disappointed. It meant the 55 seconds of complete liberation (and recklessness) was over.
Fortunately there was still 10 minutes of parachuting before we were forced to be back on solid ground. Those 10 minutes were — you guessed it — amazing. The fact that we were hanging in the sky during magic hour only added to the breathtaking somewhat surreal experience. Not even pictures can do it justice and as we touched down I wondered how I had waited 20 years to skydive.
And I can rest assured knowing that it definitely will not be my last. Why? Tom Petty said it best: “I wanna free fall out into nothing.”