Standing at the edge of the plane looking down, I had an “OH MY GOD” moment.  What am I doing?  What was I thinking?  What if I die?  It is statistically improbable, but not impossible. Oh well, there’s no turning back now. Before I knew it, we were out the door falling toward the Earth.  The first ten seconds I was completely petrified.  The air was rushing toward us at 120 miles an hour and I found it hard to breathe.  At some point, Paul tapped me on the shoulder and I released my hands from the safety position and put them in the proper freefall position.

Our video guy was only about 10 feet away from us and he managed to capture all my emotions on film.  Freefall only lasts about 50-60 seconds.  I went from petrified to feeling invigorated. What a rush! It was SO strange. Just when I started to relax and smile, freefall was over. I didn't realize it, but Paul had waved off to signal the cameraman that he was going to pull the ripcord.  I and was completely surprised when the parachute opened as you can see from the photo.

After I got over the initial shock of the opening chute, I was suddenly aware of how incredibly quiet the world seemed.   It was so peaceful!  We were about 5,000 feet above the ground, and the view was breathtaking.  Paul had me hold the toggles while he loosened my chest strap.  He asked me if I wanted to steer, but I was afraid I’d mess something up.   He made sure the parachute was working properly.  Then, we practiced our landing a couple of times.  I loved the canopy time!  We did a couple 360’s!  So much fun!  I didn't want it to end.  

When instructed to do so, I lifted my legs just like we were taught in tandem training. Paul's feet were on the ground first and my legs came down and rested on his as we slid forward just a little and came to a stop.  It was like a baseball player sliding in to home plate.  Sweet landing!  The video guy captured our approach and landing.  He welcomed me back to Earth and referred to it as my “first” skydive.  At the time, it made me chuckle.  “My first...”

I arrived at Skydive Orange with a gleam in my eye and an uneducated guess about how it feels to jump out of a plane. I left with a permanent smile, an awesome video, fabulous photos, and longing to return to Orange.