freefall

Imagine a point in the sky two miles high. Somewhere just above the clouds where the bright sun touches everything and there are no shadows. So far above everything we know on a daily basis, removed from the hustle and bustle. In the mind, this place we conjure up is quiet, it is hushed, it is brilliantly silent.
Soft clouds moving slowly below, occasionally breaking up the view of earth and it's manic occupants, everything up here moves at a different pace.

At least, that is the image that still plays back when I try to imagine a spot so high and far removed from this office I now sit in.
But that image shares a spot right next to a reality that I enjoyed this last weekend, a real world experience that was out of this world. It is something that, two days later, I am just now coming down from.

You see...two days ago, on Saturday morning I jumped out of an airplane.

After a meager four hours of sleep, yours truly got up in the wee hours so he could drive to Rosharon Texas. It's an adult playground, a mini amusement park. It is so much fun.
And the story is long with lots of little jokes and comments, all of the sort that end with "you should have been there".

But the part I want to tell is where I wasn't nearly as scared as I thought I'd be. How the ride up was loud and windy and funny and exciting, everyone talking and laughing as we watched altimeters and glanced out of the windows. How that spot so high up, that I'd always imagined would be quiet and peaceful and still, wasn't any of those things at all. The time came to jump and my tandem partner and I slid down to the door...my knees hanging out into space as I looked into a world of bright blue and was blasted by wind whipping past and then...

Ready.
Set.
Go.

It got quiet, for one second my entire life was as hushed as a church while I slowly toppled end over end and the airplane slid out of view.
Then it was loud and windy with excitement and yelling and happiness and joy.
The rush is like nothing I've ever experienced.
I'm hooked.


-free as a bird