Many of us have a bucket list – a list of things we want to do before we ‘kick the bucket’ so to speak.  If you’ve never seen the movie The Bucket List you might want to rent it.  It may not have gotten the best reviews but it sparked a movement for people to construct ‘a bucket list’ of their own.  This writer was inspired as well and though I needed no movie to prompt me to want to skydive, it gave me a place to put the “something I’ve wanted to do since college” and to check it off as done this Saturday, August 8, 2015!

Those who know me know I am NOT an adrenaline junkie…not even a little bit.  However, skydiving truly has been something I wanted to do since I was in college and I finally was presented with an opportunity.  Some questioned if I would back out at the last moment but I was certain that I was going to go through with it, that’s how confident I was in my desire.  However, that is not to say I didn’t fully expect myself to have a full attack of nerves upon arrival to the airfield, on board the plane, or at the door but I still knew deep down that I was going through with it.

And I did with very little nervous energy which surprised even me.  I was pumped and confident every step of the way.  My only moment that I was a tad bit nervous, as you’ll see in one of the photos, is when we are scooting closer to the jump door.  But at the door I was thinking, “Yup!  Here we go!”  And oh my good Lord was it an amazing, amazing adventure!  I have never experienced such splendor in my entire life.  It was quite definitely the most spectacular 8 minutes of my life!

I was blessed to have my middle son join me for this trip of a lifetime…not sure it was on his bucket list but when I told him I was going, he immediately said, “I’ll go!”   The outfit we went with was Skydive New England, in Lebanon, Maine.   Totally great group of instructors and jumpers!  My ‘best friend’ of the day was Frankie – an Australian here with Skydive New England for the season.  He’s been doing this for a long time and made me feel totally safe and left me with no fear of his abilities.  I appreciated him repeating that I was his best friend today and he was going to not let anything happen to me.  It also helped that he told me I had a beautiful face and he wouldn’t let any harm come to it, lol.  Freddy was my videographer and he too was fun to pair up with for the jump.  He didn’t tell me I had a beautiful face but he did capture my oh so beautiful face when it was fluttering in the wind as we were in free fall at 120 mph.  Great guys, great outfit and great day!