10,000 Feet

I did it again. I jumped out of a plane in the sky. This time the papers I had to sign even more boldly explained the dangers of skydiving.
We were scheduled to go the week before, but there was too much cloud cover. In order to jump, you have to be able to see the ground from the plane. This week, we had to go super early to fit in before the other groups, but the timing was perfect. Although it was cloudy, there was enough of a break to jump, and the clouds made for beautiful scenery.

This is my tandem buddy, Ron. The first thing he said to me was, "Are you nervous?"

When I explained that I had done this before, he disappointedly asked, "you're not even scared?" All the way up in the plane he kept saying things to try to make me nervous. "It's only my second time jumping." "The serial number on your chute is 000013." "We're good as long as you don't hear a beeping noise" (when the altimeter beeps). All I could do was laugh, because surprisingly enough, I wasn't nervous this time. Last time, I was wicked nervous, but this time it was just fun. Ron offered to spin me until I threw up, so we did a few turns and different things that I didn't do last time. I also didn't get a video this time, so I was just able to soak it all in instead of making eyes at the camera. The one downside is that the harness is not really fitted for my body, so when the parachute opens and then floating down, my thighs were a little bruised and sore from holding all of me up. So worth it though.

Here are the jumpers that day, including my old bishop.