Twenty years ago, I went skydiving in New Zealand. Kevin and I were dating at the time. I remember pleading with him to do it with me. He said, "Never. Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" He spent two decades throwing people and objects out of the back of a C-130, but would never jettison himself out of an airplane. Ironic? Here is Kevin, dropping me off for my skydiving experience. My plane is in the right side of the picture.
They did not offer tandem skydiving at that time. I had to take a day of classes and jump the following day, by myself. EGADS! Here I am floating through the sky.
Coming in for a landing. Theses pictures were before the digital age, so I am lucky to have found a few to scan in.
To my surprise, about a month ago, Kevin announced he was going skydiving. Here he is before the big event.
Suiting up.
Holy, crazy looking airplane! When they rolled this thing out, I must admit I laughed out loud. Kevin and I have had quite a few crazy flying experiences in a myriad of airplanes, but this one looked pretty precarious. My good friend, David Omre (who actually learned to fly before he learned to drive), told me that aircraft paint is actually quite heavy. These serious skydivers want a very high thrust to weight ratio, so they forego the paint in favor of a clear coat.
There he goes. Sixty second of pure exhilaration in free fall.
Once the chute was pulled, he enjoyed the sights.
We finally caught a glimpse of him from the ground.
Check out the grin on that face.
The girls excited to see their dad and hear all about his adventure.
So proud of this man! Kendall wanted to know if she could try it now. Ummm, not for a few more years. As for Sidney, she is "never" going to do that. As I stated above, never say "never".
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