I have always had a bucket list, ever since I was little. The list was full of all sorts of interesting activities ranging from meeting celebrities or going to new places. As I’ve grown older I have added more things to my bucket list and taken away others. For instance, I no longer have the burning desire to meet Joe Sugg. But one major thing has always stayed on that list–skydiving. For my 18th birthday my dad gave me the opportunity to cross that off both of our bucket lists.
I was not nervous on the car ride over but I could tell my dad was too due to his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel. Once we got to the place he seemed to relax. I think it’s because he got to look at all of the planes and see how they worked. Having a pilots license himself he finds all of those things very interesting. It was opposite for me, although I may be a frequent flyer, planes are definitely not my forte and tend to stress me out.
After the instructors taught us the alarmingly brief lessons on learning how to fall out of a plane, we put on our jackets, hooked up our harnesses, and headed to the plane with our instructors hooked to us. The plane was tiny and we were all seated on the floor squished for about ten minutes. All that I can remember from that ride up was that it was freezing and there was this one tiny window on the pilots side that I was able to look out of to keep me from wanting to hurl. Once we reached the proper height the instructors made sure our harnesses were properly hooked to them. We scooched around the tiny plane and got ready to jump out. My dad and his instructor went first. I saw my dad fall out of the plane and get swept away into the clouds exactly like one would picture happened in a cartoon. He whooshed away out of sight falling through the clouds. Immediately after we could not see him I moved to sit at the open door on the side of the plane. My legs were dangling from the sky, moving around like noodles because of the blowing wind. My chest was tight and my breath was short and I suddenly wanted to chicken out, but before I could even utter words out of my mouth I heard my instructor say “ready?” and then felt a push. The next thing I knew I was falling from a plane.
It was amazing. I was smiling so much. It may have been because the wind was pushing on my face so it was stuck that way, but trust me the happiness was all there. It was freezing, since my dad and I decided to go in early April, and my eyes were watering like crazy but it did not matter to me because I was having the time of my life. When the parachute opened it was like someone running up to you and giving you a hug from behind. It pulls you back but makes you feel safe. Once it was open and we were drifting down my instructor was able to point out things to me on the ground, he told me where Boston was, and other fun landmarks nearby. He did some spins with the parachute and even let me control it for a little bit.
From a distance I saw my dad land and about thirty seconds later it was my turn. Landing was hard but fun. You have to put your legs out in a sitting position while the instructor lands on his feet and takes a couple of jogging steps. After, the parachute follows and places itself on the ground.
The jump made my dad and I extremely hungry so afterwards we ate a huge lunch at Panera. Then we drove home and went right to sleep. It was still early but we were exhausted from all of the adrenaline. We both were incredibly happy with the experience. I’m glad to share that memory with him.
If anyone is interested in looking to skydive I highly recommend the place I went to. The instructors were so nice, they took amazing pictures and videos of us, and overall had a great experience. If you want to learn more look up The Boston Skydive.