For my 18th birthday I decided I wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. If you have never gone skydiving you will never understand the rush of it all. I was to do a static line jump. This means I jump out of the airplane alone with a rope tied to the parachute that pulls it open.

I was the first of 4 to jump that day. The instructor opened the small door of the plane and the wind was insane.

Step 1: Climb out the door and grab on to the wing strut with 100 mph + winds making the skin on my face flap

Step 2: hang from the strut and look over at the instructor for the thumbs up as I am dangling from the wing.

Step 3: Release !

I remember my neck snapping back as the static line ripped the chute out of my pack.. then I blacked out for a few seconds… then I remember grabbing at my emergency release… I think I was in shock.. then I looked up and my chute lines were twisted- (like a kid that swung in circles on a swing) I pulled the lines apart and everything seemed ok.  After all that it was an amazing view and a great descent down, floating through the air, it was so quite and peaceful.  As I neared the ground I realized just how fast I was descending. I had a rough landing – flaring up a second too late. It was one hell of a ride.

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