Blue Skies

It was Friday night and summer had just begun hugging the air, I was only fifteen at the time and as usual I was irritated and annoyed when I heard my mothers screeching voice call me down from my room. I reluctantly responded with a “what! Why?” I probably should have been a little nicer seeming, as my parents were about to inform me I was allowed to take my skydiving aspirations to the next level. For those of you who know absolutely noting about the sport you have to take a six hour ground course prior to jumping with your own parachute so you can be shoved out of the cop or in this case the plane.

For as along as I can remember exiting a plane at 13,500 has never been a fear but a feeling that forms deep in my gut that forces a smile to always creep onto my face. People ask me what it’s like and I always say its different for everyone, some hate it and feel nauseous and light headed others come down screaming and jumping with adrenaline as if they had just woken up from the best nap of their lives and all they can think about is experiencing that moment over and over again. But for me its indescribable, just a sensation, something that could never be fully put into words even though I try every time I am faced with the question. Some say I was born to fly, it’s in my blood. Influenced by my parents extensive relationship with the sport and how they fell in love. Personally I’m in love with every aspect of the skydiving world but together my parents found something entirely different but completely the same to how I feel.  

 The most common question I get is, “why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” and I respond with, because it makes me happy and it is a whole lot of fun.

I was a freshman in high school and at the time the majority of my thoughts were condensed into one mated and unorganized ball of yarn with handing in a late homework as my biggest fear.  Although the details of my life where by no means rudimentary or childish I just hadn’t fully pushed through that barrier that held my independence and drive to work for something other then good grades. But once you hear something or experience a new thing for the first time you can never take it back, its stuck with you for the rest of your life even if its merely the shadow of something that once was.                   
 Skydiving played and plays a large role in the process of me entering adulthood, its as if I have entered this whole other plane of reality, constructed around a different set of rules and guidelines as well as freedoms I had been denied for so many years while tied to the ground. It helped me realize there is more to life then textbooks and essays based on some old guy who died and was apart of the 100 years war or prompted the creation of the bill of rights to be added to the constitution or was against women’s suffrage. Not that any of those things are bad or not worth learning it just allowed me to gain perspective from tasks unrelated to school assignments causing me to be filled with more questions.       

I have gone through a more unique “right of passage” then the average teenager because most aren’t given the opportunity to strap a parachute to their backs and learn to control their body as they fall through the sky. Yes, its really really awesome and insane all at the same time but its also accelerated my level of maturity and exposure to the world without any of its imperfections photoshopped to nothing but rays of sunshine and green grass. As the saying goes, nothing is perfect, but who wants perfection when there are so many more interesting aspects of the earth that are neither flawless nor ruined.