…because this evening I decided that when, with a lot of work and a little bit of luck, I graduate in the summer of 2014 I am going to celebrate by jumping out of something that looks a bit like this:
An old friend took me to Dunkeswell Airfield this evening, high up in the beautiful Blackdown Hills in Devon.
We watched a group of people listen carefully to a final briefing, cross the airfield, board the small plane and take off. Some had jumped before, others were taking the challenge for the first time and would be jumping in tandem with qualified instructors. We watched as the plane circled around the airfield, climbing to 15,000 ft. A few minutes later we watched as we saw their parachutes open, way up above our heads, and watched them gracefully come back down to earth, and before long we saw the big grins on their faces when they were reunited with their waiting friends and families.
My friend, who himself has around 35 skydives under his belt, watched my face as I watched the jumpers and said “You’d actually do it wouldn’t you?”
I always thought my answer would be a resounding “no!”
I surprised myself by nodding my head. I surprised myself even more when I realised that I meant it.
“I know” I said, “I’ll do it for my 50th birthday.”
Then I realised that I don’t want to wait that long, so sometime in the summer of 2014, very soon after I add the letters BA (Hons) to my name, I AM going to jump out of a plane.
I’ll probably write a blog about it.
You are a very smart individual!
Pingback: Dreaming of daisies | Vivisunoriginal's Blog