It’s not a spectator sport, Sweetheart. Part 2.

If you didn’t read yesterdays post, go ahead and do that. I talk about what lead up to the jump. Go on. I’ll wait.

I finally narrowed it down. I knew I wanted to jump at sunset but I still wasn’t ready to commit.

Peer pressure can only go so far.

Right!?

It seemed like a totally scary thing to JUST DO. (Boy, was I wrong, it wasn’t scary at all!!)

Anyways, I was nervous about all the newness being way too overpowering so we decided I would go up as a passenger when my FIL and friend Jeff jumped.

That was pretty cool and it wasn’t as loud as I was expecting.

I, however, was not expecting the pilot to NOSE dive back down to the runway.

Okay, he probably didn’t really nose dive but we dropped altitude pretty fast.

I felt more ready after that and Charlie took it upon himself to just book my tandem.

There’s no better time to do something then RIGHT NOW, is there?!

Well, little did I know it would consume my entire week.

Every waking moment was about my upcoming jump.

I dreamt about it, thought about it, tweeted about it and watched tandem jump after tandem jump.

Again.

My day finally arrived but I had 10 hours to just wait.

That was brutal.

I got to the drop zone and everyone was so excited for me, it was impossible to get nervous.

Skydive Temple has an incredible group of people and I could not be more satisfied to share this experience with them.

My awesome friend showed up and when she said she wasn’t jumping, Phil told her it was not a spectator sport.

My sister and nieces showed up.

Phil tied me up  tightened my harness and we were off.

I thought I was going to get nervous once I was in the plane but everything was going by so incredibly fast, there was no time to process it all and be scared.

Then, Austin (my videographer), asked me how I was doing.

I started to feel nervous.

I closed my eyes and just took in the moment.

I put all my trust into the man I was strapped to.

Phil started going over the process again and helped me into my googles.

Austin opened the door and went out.

Phil scooted us to the edge.

It wasn’t scary.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. (literally and figuratively)

Phil started counting and it REALLY hit me.

I was about to jump out of an airplane.

OH. MY.

Just like that there was complete silence.

It was the most incredible feeling you can ever experience.

I was in this amazing sky that I look to every day but never really saw the way I was seeing it now.

Look how peaceful!

Austin took my hands and we started to spin.

I’ve never had so much fun in my entire life. (almost, but we can’t talk about THAT kind of fun here!)

It all happened way too fast and just like that, it was over.

Phil pulled our chute.

The silence was gone but it was still so peaceful and relaxing.

He pointed out the DZ and we did a few more spins and we talked a bit but before I was ready, we were landing and I had a new best friend.

Words can not describe how amazing this experience was.

I can only think of one thing that would have made it better. If Charlie could have been up there, too!

Words can not describe how different this is from whatever you have pictured in your head.

If you are afraid, if you’re scared, whatever it is you think is stopping you from trying this, don’t let it.

Call your local drop zone and set up a jump.

You will NEVER be sorry.

If you missed the video, it’s in yesterday’s post.

I’ll be creating a slideshow with all the amazing shots Austin was able to get!