At the ages of ten and 12, my older sister Sarah and I made a pact to skydive on my 18th birthday.
Sarah goes to The Ohio State University and is taking many rigorous courses. This led me to believe that the earliest we would get to go was in the Summer since it is hard for her to plan set dates for events since she practically always has exams to study for. About two weeks before my birthday, my sister and parents surprised me by saying we were scheduled to go on the Saturday after my birthday.
It was about an hour drive, and we left around eight to get there early. On the way there, I filled out an online waiver. I did not read it, because it was so long, but even when skimming through and just signing when I needed to, the word death, in all caps may I add, was mentioned a minimum of ten times. I had no problem with this since it was expected, but I found it funny nonetheless.
I am unsure what I expected a skydiving center to look like, but it was not this. It was in the middle of nowhere, and the surroundings were just farmland for miles and miles. There was a large blue shed and a small white house when we got there.
We headed into the house and they immediately handed us another waiver; they then told us to watch a video on this outdoor TV. There were two TVs on the wall, one above the other. The top screen showed a plethora of individuals skydiving with wide smiles across their faces. The other was a video explaining anything that could go wrong, and restating that since we had signed the waiver, we can not sue, etc. My sister and I also had to sign each other’s waivers, which was odd.
Afterward, we walked into the building and put on the skydiving gear. This lady then instructed us on what to do when we jumped. The only real directions were to push your legs back as far as possible, hold onto the vest with your hands and put your head back so the camera will see you. Also after a minute or so, the instructor will tap your shoulder for you to let go of your vest. The landing instructions were also fairly simple.
We then went out to the blue shed and had to wait for a group of skydivers to go before us. They were all going solo, and it was so cool to watch them all land since there were so many of them, and they all landed around the same time. This took longer than expected, as we were waiting for about an hour. My mom, little sister, and best friend all waited patiently.
We met our instructors and they were all extremely friendly. The plane looked sketchy, but we all piled in. It was a very small space, and there were 16 of us that had piled in. It was two rows of long benches and you were just supposed to straddle the bench, so we were all pretty smooshed. I am unsure how long we spent on the plane, but I was told it was a while.
During the whole ride up, I went over and over again through the instructions that we were given in my head because I did not want to forget them, even though the directions were very few. A few solo divers jumped out before me and my sister, and right before, our instructors showed us a “secret handshake” that you do with anyone you can reach before the first skydiver’s jump.
We then flew up what I was told was double the height, and it was me and Sarah’s turn to jump. We did rock paper scissors to decide who would jump first, and my sister won, so she went first. It is like a garage looking door that they pull up, and when the light next to it turns green, you jump out of the plane. It was cool to see my sister jump out of the plane. Also at this point I was bursting with excitement and could not wait. Then It was my turn. My instinct whenever my heart drops or I am experiencing adrenaline has always been to smile, so I had the biggest smile on my face the whole time we were free falling.
When we jumped, it was genuinely the greatest, most indescribable feeling I had ever had. I also forgot every direction I was ever given (like I thought I would), but it did not end up affecting the jump at all. After about a minute or so of free falling, my instructor pulled the parachute, and I got to steer us around for a bit. We also chose the best day possible to go, since it was just fall colored trees for miles and miles; the perfect scenery for an event like this. After the parachute inflated, my ears ached so bad that it was hard to focus on anything else. When we landed, I realized my hearing was muffled, and I did not get it fully back for about five hours later. It was worth it, though, because this was one of the best experiences I have ever had, and I was so glad I got to do it with my sister.
