Most people know that I have always wanted to go skydiving. I have talked about it many times. As the years passed, I watched as acquaintances and friends went and later posted their pictures. Eventually, I grew tired of procrastinating and waiting for friends to come with me. Most people were too scared to do it, so I decided to take matters in my own hands.
Back in October of 2008, I heard that the Chicago Sports and Social Club had an outing for skydiving from a friend. I looked into it and decided to sign up. I made an early morning bus trip with tons of strangers out to the Western Suburb of Hinckley, IL, home of Chicagoland Skydiving Center. After a promising morning, clouds settled in and we never got the chance to go due to the weather. However, I had signed all the paperwork, paid all the fees, and taken the basic training. So I left with a debit like card full of my skydiving credits. It was good for one year.
For many months during the Winter and Spring I thought about that card and when I could return to make my jump. I was just waiting for favorable weather conditions.
Once May rolled around, a few things caused me to schedule my jump. First of all, my good friend, Jake, was skydiving out in Cali with his little brother. Secondly, I heard that Jay Niice and Julian from Chicago's B96 jumped over a weekend. This made me realize that I had to take action. So the next Monday, I took a break from working and called CSC. I took a chance and scheduled a jump for Sunday. I then waited nervously all week watching weather.com. The forecast was sunny, then rainy, and finally sunny again right before the big moment. I was set, there would be no weather delays this time.
I drove out to Hinckley early on a Sunday morning. I checked in at the desk and within fifteen minutes I was called out to the hanger. In a whirl of events, I was suited up, and had a harness tied around me. I briefly met my skydiving instructor and quickly had the camera man interviewing me. They joked about being scared and dying, but I was never really worried. I had dreamed about this moment on many nights. Some nights it was a pleasant freefall while other nights were terrifying nightmares. Either way I was ready.
I was quickly ushered out to the plane. It turns out that I was added last minute to a flight full of hard core jumpers. I sat in the small, cramped plane flanked by my instructor and camera man.
As the plane elevated, I watched the dial altimeter's needle slowly move. It quickly went from zero to 15000 feet. It was at this point that everything started to come together. Everyone starting filing to the front of the plane. I watched as they nonchalantly dropped out of the side door. They made it look easy. I strapped onto my instructor and we waddled to the side door. My camera man hung on to the outside of the plane, waiting for us to drop. I looked down and saw countryside way below. This was the time where most people would freeze up. The time their brains would scream "No, don't do this!" To be honest, I didn't have much time to think or resist. My instructor counted to three and before I knew it we were on our way out of the plane. It was a total shock, I couldn't quite comprehend what was happening since I was tumbling.
Eventually I came to a stable position, facing the ground. The instructor tapped my shoulder which meant I could spread my arms and legs. The feeling of flying was exhilarating. The sound of air was whisking past my ears. I was screaming and yelling, but like in space no one else could hear me. The one thing that shocked me was the fact that I couldn't really breathe. I definitely wasn't ready for that. I played around with the camera man, trying to grab his hand and use him to spin myself. It wasn't long before play time was over. The instructor showed me his digital altimeter, which meant it was time to deploy the parachute.
Now before taking off I made sure to see the bright orange ripcord handle on the instructor's hip. For the life of me, I didn't quite remember where the handle was while falling thousands of feet toward the earth. I searched for a bit and just as I saw it, the instructor pulled it. Before I knew it, I was shot upward with the parachute overhead.
I also had the preconceived notion that the parachute descent would be scary for me. I believed freefall would be less scary than being slowly suspended so high off the ground. Rather it was a peaceful journey down. I liked looking below and seeing the lay of the land as well as the other skydivers landing in the field.
Soon, the ground was closing in. I watched and realized for the first time how fast we were really descending. It was kind of scary to think how fast you fell even with a parachute on. I lifted my legs and we slid into a landing. As I sat on the ground, I was dazed and lost in a natural high. It was one of those feelings you had after being on a thrilling roller coaster. I had realized what I had just done.
Skydiving is a thrilling adventure. I am glad I did it, and I recommend it to everyone else as well.
