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Don there has jumped over 1800 times; all barefooted. And, I think under the influence or hung over. |
In an attempt to collect early on my life insurance policy my wife had the clever idea of having me sky dive to celebrate my 30th birthday. Obviously her plan didn’t work because I’m currently alive, well (maybe), and here to tell the tale.
Let me first say that there is nothing natural or comforting about jumping out of a perfectly good airplane at 12,000 ft. There have only been a handful of times when I’ve had to make a conscious effort to breath, sky diving was one of those times. Upon tempting fate and exiting the craft adrenaline got the better of me and I spent the better part of what felt like 45 minutes screaming at the top of my lungs. The truth is we were probably in free fall for the total sum of 30 seconds. If it weren’t for the fact that I felt my heart attempting an escape from my chest I don’t think I would have stopped screaming.
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See what I mean about screaming and consciously breathing |
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It wasn’t cool with everyone that I joined Don and jumped barefoot; but how could I pass up the chance to feel what its like to have your toes tearing through the air at over 120 MPH. |
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If you see all the pics on facebook you’ll notice Don had to manually adjust my view finder. I was to busy looking down for sea turtles and new favorite beaches to notice the camera man. |
After free falling you get an opportunity casually make your way back down to earth and enjoy, especially if you jump in Hawaii, a panoramic view of paradise. Ocean all around, mountains in one direction, and endless beaches in another. The water in Hawaii is so blue that from thousands of feet in the air I could see sea turtles floating happily along in the ocean beneath. I’ll never forget the experience and hope that Eliza takes the same plunge on her birthday in January. If you haven’t scared yourself silly and jumped out perfectly good airplane lately you need to. Like the fine people at Lulu suggest, you should do something that freights you every day.
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This picture does not do this image justice… but its a good effort. |
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Hurray!!! |
I can safely say that on October 8th, 2011 I did just that. Here is to scarring yourself and most importantly living to tell the tale. If you’re interested in all the pictures taken of the event check out Joe’s Jump Pics folder on facebook.
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Sorry I didn’t tell you before I jumped mom. It was probably better this way. Love you all and hang loose. |