Gather around boys and girls to hear the tale of when Naomi
jumped out of a plane for her 23rd birthday!
Kendra and I at SkyDive City! |
Everything started out well. Kendra, M and I all went to
SkyDive City and I filled out my paperwork and waited for the training session
to begin. I wasn’t nervous one bit. Nope. Not me.
M. and I before the festivities! |
I, along with four other people, listened to our instructor
T.K. talk about the proper position to
take once we are out of the plane. We were to keep our head up, keep our mouth
closed, spread our arms out in front of our face and then keep our legs
together through our trainers’ legs and have a grand old time posing and what
not.
I meet my trainer Randy who gives me my jumpsuit, puts on my
harness and once again goes over the proper positions for jumping out of the
plane. I meet my photographer/videographer Cupcake, a funny, tattooed, and
pierced up guy who interviews me before I get on the plane and during the plane
ride.
Randy harnessing me up! |
Interviewing with Cupcake |
During our ascension up to 13,500 feet, I quietly say my
prayers among the loudness of cursing and laughing and hype myself up for what’s
about to happen. “Naomi,” I think to myself, “you’re about to jump out of a
plane! One life one chance!”
My thoughts at this moment? "I wish I had some chapstick!" |
We get closer to our drop zone and one by one, like flies,
everyone begins to jump. It’s pretty cold that high in the sky and as I inch
myself forward I’m still pretty calm. Randy is securely attached to my back and
Cupcake steps out on the side of the plane so we can jump at the same time.
Still not nervous.
Randy leans in, leans out, leans in and leans out again and
we’re off! My mind is blank.
Getting ready to jump! |
I forgot EVERYTHING I was taught and suddenly realized that
I’m in the air! There’s nothing below me! CRAP! So what did I do?
Here we go! As you can see I'm clearly in the fetal position |
I started grabbing at anything I could for security and to
reassure me that I wasn’t going to plummet to my death, which naturally freaked
Randy out and caused him to pull the parachute early. I’m talking 12 seconds
into a 90 second freefall early. Yes, instead of the cool poses I was supposed
I had in mind, I ended up hanging in the air attached to Randy like a baby
kangaroo in its mother’s pouch for a good 10 minutes as we slowly descended to
the field.
The whole thing was a mess! |
In the midst of it all, I saw Cupcake fly down with a “what
else can I do?” look on his face as I continued to flop around like a fish out
of water. I, of course was the last one to come down as M. and Kendra wondered
what on earth took me so long. They
laughed at me and with me while we waited for my pictures and video which
caused even more laughs. However, I am not letting this “mishap” get me down. I
am determined to go back into the sky and do my cute poses!
It’s a pretty huge deal to jump out of plane and live, but it’s an even bigger deal when you have laughs, a reputation at SkyDive City and a crazy story to go with it.
The last one. |
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