Lisa’s Magnificent Skydive

Recently, my sister acted on a promise she made herself long ago.  She vowed she would skydive before she turned 50.  On July 10, 2009, she kept her promise.

Thom, Lisa, and I drove down to Perris, CA, for her skydive.  The closer we got to Perris, the more nervous I got.  Good grief!  My sister was going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!

We arrived at the Perris Skydiving School and Lisa checked in.  Thom and I got to sit with her while she signed a 12-page disclaimer and was videoed stating she would hold no one liable if she didn’t safely land.  Yikes!!

We then went to the coffee shop for a snack while waiting for her to be called to suit up and get ready to skydive.  When she was called, I followed her in to an open bay area where she and fellow skydivers prepared to get in to their skydiving jumpsuits.  Lisa and I met her skydiving tandem partner (a professional skydiving instuctor), Nick.  I think we were both very tickled to see she had landed a very personable and very cute guy to jump with.  Just an extra little thrill for this ride she was taking.

After suiting up and getting harnessed so she could be attached to Nick for the tandem jump, Nick gave her instructions on what the process would be and what her responsibilities were.  When he came to the part about exiting the airplane for the jump, it was so strange to hear “just kneel down on one knee and roll on out the door.”  Sounds so easy, yet just the thought is terrifying to me.  I think I would love the floating down to earth part once the parachute is open, but I’m fairly certain that I could not make myself “roll on out the door” and in to open space.  I would probably expire during free fall.

I followed Lisa and Nick as they walked to the plane; and watched as the plane took off.  I anxiously watched the plane in the sky until it became a minute dark speck way up there.  Eventually, many dark tinier specks appeared in the sky.  As these specks grew larger, I could see the skydivers were floating on down.  Now, how to discern Lisa out of all these dots in the sky!

As Lisa and Nick were very close to landing, Lisa called my name and I began snapping photos.  It is very hard to take photos of  skydivers landing as they are actually coming in pretty fast - you can hear the whoosh sound as they approach the landing zone.  I felt very relieved and joyful when my sister was safely back on earth.  You can see pics of this event by clicking here.

As a gift to Bean (aka Lisa), I purchased a simple video of the event.  The camera for this is built in to the instructor’s glove.  The video is about a minute-and-a-half long.  I just fill up with joy and love for my sister every time I watch it.  She is so excited and happy in that video - she accomplished something a lot of people won’t even think of attempting.

I’m glad you’re feet are back on solid ground, Bean; and I’m so happy that you got to have this wonderful experience and that I was there to share it with you.  As she exclaimed in the video while skydiving and to me once she landed on the ground - “That was so intense!”  I guess that says it all.