Skydiving!!!

Day 110 – It is Mother’s Day and the last day with my son on this trip. We went skydiving yesterday and we went up with the airplane but they decided it was too cloudy and we could not jump, so at 6000 feet they decided to abort and get back to base with the hope the weather will get better. We were advised to wait in the airport and hope for a break in the clouds but after half an hour and realizing the clouds actually getting thicker we decided not to wait and just go on with our day. The area is famous for it’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines so we went for wine tasting instead. It was very tasty and much fun. I have to admit that I had to quite after the second winery since I was getting a serious buzz already, I said it before – I have very low tolerance – my Asian genes are kicking in I guess J

My son was not ready to give up on our plan to skydive so he found another drop zone about 2 hours away that was farther from the ocean and more into the desert and so, more of a chance for clear sky and we drove there arriving late at night and found a local motel to spend the night. This morning we woke up nice and early, and arrived at the airport. It is a very small outfit, compared to the one from yesterday, but so much more fun and personal because of that. We were the first two to arrive. Few minutes later arrived a couple that today is his 70^th birthday and so this their way of celebrating it – how cool is that!! The plane here was very small, a Cesna, and so it goes up with each jumper (and their jump master) individually. My son was the first one to jump and I was waiting for him at the landing zone. I jumped second. I was worried before that I will start being afraid once they open the airplane’s door and we hang out there with nothing underneath just a lot of empty sky, I even said I would probably pee in my pans from being so scared, but I knew I will still do it. I was not expecting anything like the experience I had. Since it’s a small aircraft we actually sit and put our legs on the latch and jump from there. Also because these are individual jumps and there is no risk we can hurt other jumpers they are more lax on doing funny things so we came out of the plane with 3 rolls!! And only then we sot into the beginners skydive position – belly dive. There are no words to explain the feeling of free fall, the most exhilarating thing I’ve done in my life, and it is so amazingly beautiful and once the parachute opens it is so quite and serene. I still remember the grin that would not go off the face of my son and younger daughter after their jump last year; I am wearing the same silly one today. I came down and said that this item is not off my bucket list, if anything it is up there again at the top of the list. Now I want to learn to jump solo!! I want to get my certificate to jump solo. So on my next visit here I am going to start working on that. But today I am just celebrating an amazing experience that it will be really hard for me to top it.

I am thankful beyond words to my son for a wonderful weekend we got to spend together; it is not something one can take for granted. I am thankful for his insistence that we have to jump when I was ready to give up and postpone it for my next visit. I am thankful to him for waiting for me at the landing area with a bouquet of flowers for mother’s day – so sweet and thoughtful. And I am so very thankful for an experience of a life time – skydiving is  SOOOOO cool!!!!