With everything going on in the world, between COVID-19, state lockdowns, murder by racism, political war-of-the-parties, rioters destroying small businesses that were already in trouble due to being shut down for long periods of time, I must admit, I’d had my fill of life on the ground. So, my solution? I took to the skies. The plan? To dive out of a plane- yes, a perfectly good one.
Now this happened to coincide with the celebration of the boyfriend’s birthday, but the truth is, I just needed to feel something real for myself; some sort of rush; some reason to know that this world is still a beautiful place. Basically, I needed a new perspective. You see, all the negative dealings in the news, on social media, between neighbors, and even in cities - it all just left a terrible taste in my mouth. I wanted to see the world from a new angle and maybe have things be quiet for a little while in order to simply enjoy this great, big-blue-and-green ball that is so precious to our species.
So, that is just what I did. Les, the boyfriend, and I went down to Elberta, Ala., and the team there at Skydive the Gulf put us instantly at ease. They kept us rolling and laughing, even as the pilot of the Cessna-182 that took us up told us the real pilot didn’t show up for the day, and he just mowed the grass but figured the plane couldn’t be that different from his zero-turn mower.
After what felt like we were signing our lives away with all the paperwork and releases, we were ready to suit up. The instructors helped at every turn. Up, up and away we went down the grass airstrip and with a quick jump, we were airborne. We banked and next we were gazing at the pristine teal waters of the gulf...from 10,000 feet in the air. The door opened and you instantly felt the cold, biting 32-degrees of the upper altitudes.
After that, is when things seemed to speed up and, at the same time, almost freeze. I think, on some level, it was just the adrenaline kicking in to override my brain from thinking too much. From my vantage point, the door opened and all I could see were clouds and, in the hazy distance, a faded look at the horizon. The next moment, I was on the edge of the door. The force of the wind on my legs prevented me from being able to put any weight on the small step just outside the plane. Instead, I was held to my instructor just by the strength of the metal clips and vinyl straps. Before I could even actually register that I was dangling outside the door of an airplane in mid-flight, my instructor did a little flip and I was falling to the earth at a mere 120 mph.
40-seconds. The free-fall lasted only 40-seconds. By the math, for those 40-seconds, falling at 120-miles-per-hour, we fell 7,040 feet. The wind hits a bit differently at those speeds.
When the wind is completely surrounding you, you literally fall through the clouds, rushing ever-closer to the huge expanse of blue-green land and water beneath you. Well, take my word for it, your thoughts have a way of clearing themselves. Honestly, for those brief 40-seconds, I didn’t think about any personal problems, much less the problems of the world. No. Instead, it was a beautiful moment of just existing; of feeling everything and nothing, all in a moment. Then, the parachute opened and snatched us to what felt like a grinding halt.
From that point, I gazed around in absolute wonder at the beauty of the earth below me. Folks, we need to get our acts together. This world is too beautiful and rare for us to simply take it for granted. And if a piece of rock floating through space can be that rare and magnificent, think how even more precious each and every one of us are in this life. We need to stop being so nasty to each other and find a way to solve these issues. Stop the violence. Stop the feuds with family and friends over the differing opinions when it comes to politics. Each and every one of us has something unique to offer this world and, on a whole, we need to recognize that instead of tearing each other down, all because we don’t agree with each other, it’s time to take our own dive into deliberately being better people, because I gotta tell you, from up there, when things are quiet except for the wind, none of the negative shows up anyway, so it’s pointless to continue it.
By the time my feet hit the sand, I sure was thankful to be back on this earth. So, join me in making this planet a place worth being.
