I Believe I Can Fly

I am visiting my parents this week and, as usual, I have been digging around their basement unearthing things that I had thought I'd long ago thrown away.  I came across my skydiving photos.  I rarely even think about that anymore so it was a treat to recall those memories.

I was living in San Francisco at the time.  Do all of my memories seem to start there?  I had taken the GMATs in December 2000 (for the second time) and decided to do something "crazy."  My friend John had wanted to go skydiving for some time, so I called him up and said "let's do it."  As soon as I returned from spending the holidays on the east coast, we made the drive down the peninsula to a place where a friend of ours had gone.  It was early January 2001.  My parents were in India at the time so I got a free pass from having to tell them about it.  When we arrived to the place, I called my brother because I thought "what if I die and no one knows."

The type of dive we did was with a certified instructor strapped to our back.  It takes weeks and a certificate to skydive on one's own, so this is the typical dive that most people do.  We watched a 5 minute instructional video that was of no use at all and then met our jump partners.  I knew I was in for a wild ride because my guy had ona jump suit with skull and crossbones all over it.  Of course, that was my partner.  We took a tiny little airplane to altitude (or 15,000 feet).  There was 60 seconds of free fall during which I kept my eyes open.  I thought I'd have them closed the whole time, but skydiving is not scary at all.  My partner pulled the rip cord after 60 seconds and then we calmly floated down to the ground.  I was so quiet that skull guy would do wild left or right turns to try to force a reaction out of me.  Nothing.  I 've been in scarier car rides.  It was a great view but not at all like a rollercoaster ride.

When we driving back to the main area, John asked the skydivers if there ever had been any bad accidents.  One guy answered that once a chute failed at the end and the jumper dropped the last 30 feet.  John said "that doesn't sound so bad."  The guy looked at him and said "That is bad."

Maybe this is a memory I should not be sharing with my son!