There are times when we all need a good dose of adrenaline. You know, life gets a bit mundane, your favourite TV show just finished and Facebook feed has lost its shine. So why not do something a bit crazy?
An adrenaline rush looks different for every person. Some may be into car surfing, base jumping or parasailing while for others a simple lookout or a lap in a super car may be what it takes.
Jonathon and I love a good dose of adrenaline. I mean what says "adventure" like free falling thousands of metres through the air?
It all started on our honeymoon. We were in our rental car driving around the island of Oahu, Hawaii just enjoying the sights when we drove by a small airport. There were huge signs up on the fences saying "Skydiving $200". We glanced at each other and then shook our heads "nah". Then a quick re-glance. And another. Our eyes said it all. Jonathon turned the car into a quick 180 turn and we retraced our path back to the airport.
With the excitement starting to bubble, we booked ourselves in for the following day.
Fast forward 24 hours and we are back at the airport, signing away our lives on some white pieces of paper. At the bottom of every piece of paper was printed in large bold letters
"You may die, doing this."
Alright, good to know. We had a bit of a chuckle to each other and signed on the dotted line.
We watched a brief "safety video" of some people leaping out of a plane and we were ready to go.
Out near the tarmac, we were paired with our tandem partners. Jonathon was paired with the tallest woman I have ever seen and I was teamed up with a surfer looking guy with longish hair. We climbed into our harnesses and had a brief lesson on what to do, then headed out to the plane.
To say I was excited was an understatement! I had been dreaming of doing this since I was a kid. As we walked out to the plane I asked Jonathon if he was nervous. "No," was his reply.
"Nah, me either. Maybe once I get in the plane."
The flight was fun, short and a bit bumpy, with amazing views of the ocean around the island. I was in awe of how gorgeous Hawaii is.
Then came jump time. I really thought I would be nervous but the nerves never came. I was itching to jump out that door. The instructor held onto the doorway as we positioned ourselves to fall. "You ready?" He yelled into my ear against the wind. "Let's do this!" I leaned out into nothingness.
We tumbled around as we fell, filling me with the most incredible feeling, but very quickly the instructor had us in the tummy-down skydiving pose. The air rushed past us. We had a view of everything. I didn't want to miss a thing! I could see a cloud below us. As we hit it and went through I felt cold and a bit damp. So awesome!
Then our chute opened and time slowed down a bit. I just enjoyed the ride and my instructor became a bit chatty. I wasn't really listening to what he said until I heard "chute, tangled and husband" in one sentence. I focused. "Wait, what?"
"Your husband's chute is tangled. They are trying to kick it out." He laughed. "She does that a lot." Yeah, hilarious, my brand new husband could die, but good to know you find it amusing.
I watched Jonathon off in the distance kicking his legs around like a 3 year old when they stand on an ants nest. And then he fell. Apparently they couldn't save the parachute so they cut it off and moved on to the reserve chute. I lost sight of him after that.
On the ground I anxiously waited Jonathon's landing. Mine was perfect. It was like he pulled on some airbrakes and we stopped just before the ground allowing us to put our feet down gently. Jonathon was not so lucky. Gravity propelled him fast in a downwards motion and he landed on the ground in a heap, like a spider after you drop a book on it.
Fortunately, he was uninjured.
It wasn't until that evening at dinner that I realised how close I came to being widowed on my honeymoon. From that moment on I promised myself that we would never do anything like that again - until I had signed up for some pretty good life insurance!
What adrenaline activities do you like? Have you ever skydived?