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Freefall

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If someone had asked me to go skydiving six months ago, let's be real.  I would've said &(%$*&%* no.  But when I watched my dad do it back in August, I thought, ok MAYBE.  So that tiny seed of an idea grew in the back of my mind a little, and by the time my friends asked me to join them I was like you know what, I should just do it once.  I mean yeah, the thought terrified me and I was kind of worried that maybe it was a bad idea when I was about to be a missionary and all... but if I going to do it ever, now was the time because I am in Hawaii.
That morning I woke up with a pit in my stomach.  What the freaking heck am I doing.  I told my family that I loved them and also emailed Dallin.  Even though I knew that I was more likely to die in the car on the way there, I just couldn't help but leave some preparatory, just-in-case-my-plane-crashes-or-parachute-fails "last words."  I'll admit I prayed a lot.
But the weather was poor, and despite arriving at 8 something, we didn't get to go up for another five hours at 1.  At that point, the sheer boredom/hunger had pushed the fear straight out our systems and we were so pumped. WE WERE ABOUT TO JUMP OUT OF THE SKY.  I mean, for how many thousands of years had humankind ached to experience the flight of a bird, and now we were about to soar?


  The plane took off and I couldn't believe the view.  At 16,000ish feet, I could only think of Coldplay's Paradise as I soaked in the teal blues and emerald greens of Oahu.  We flew threw the clouds, and with the sun glistening at the tips of those pure white tufts it was like entering a kingdom of Heaven.


 Suddenly Morgan and her instructor just dropped out of the plane.  We didn't even have time to think {much less feel fear} before all of our own instructors starting filing out, and I had about three seconds to experience my feet at the edge of the door and then-- nothing.
 We tore through the sky, the cool air rushing past our bodies as gravity plummeted us towards the earth.  Although I could hardly breathe, I couldn't stop myself from screaming with raw ecstasy.  Now this was the way to live!  After pulling the shoot, my instructor helped me remove my goggles and then I gasped at the surreal sensation of flight.  Like dandelion seeds we drifted through the wind, gazing at the island which seemed more like a hand-crafted model than legitimate terrain.  Corral reefs, sandy beaches, misty mountains, farm parches, windy roads, speckled jungle, we could see it all!  He let me take control, teaching me to turn left and right and so we swooped, hollering at the magnificent world.  How could I have ever been so crazy to think that I would only do this once!?
After we landed, Kenna, Courtney, Myrinda, Morgan and I embraced and laughed and basically shouted at each other how amazing it all was.  OK, so I may have felt dizzy and motion sick for the next several hours {do I have a weak stomach or is it cause in the past 14 hours I had only eaten a banana? so I guess note to future skydivers, bring snacks} but anyway my whole soul was just reeling with elation.  What an incredible day to be alive.  

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