Whimsical September

A Family + Lifestyle Blog

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SKYDIVING!

Greetings from the cold, tile floor of gate F86 inside the Tampa International Airport. The walkway area outside the bathroom entrance was literally the only outlet I could find. I have a feeling that before I am done typing this I may be run over by someone and his/her suitcase, and this would be entirely my fault. I really shouldn’t be sitting here…


ANYWAY. 🙂


I just left my cousin Amanda’s beautiful wedding and am headed back to Birmingham to crash at Mary E’s. Tomorrow morning I’ll boogy on up to Chattanooga with some friends for the fabulous Abbie Hecker’s wedding to Mr. Gray Caldwell. WE. ARE. EXCITED! They are SUCH an incredible (and fun!) couple, and we are positive the wedding is going to be a blast.


Check out my cousin. Isn’t she stunning?!



Mr. & Mrs. Jason Serrano
 Me & that fabulous grandma of mine after the rehearsal dinner

family <3
We missed you Jamie, Jennifer, and Josh!
(Jennifer just started her new job on Monday, and she couldn’t take off.) 


Before I caught my Wednesday afternoon flight out of Birmingham to Tampa, I did a little something called SKYDIVING! No big deal.
Attractive jumpsuits, no?


I saw that groupon.com’s “deal” back in January was 50% off a tandem skydiving at Skydive Alabama in Cullman, so I immediately messaged a dozen friends to see who would go with me. Most told me I was absolutely insane, but one of my best friends Emily agreed to join me, and I LOVE HER FOR IT. Seriously, if it wasn’t for her, I’d still be trying to cross this off of my lifelong bucket list. The good Lord knows my husband wouldn’t go with me. 😉 He can go fight a war, but that handsome man of mine does NOT do heights.


We picked Wednesday to go, ate a 6 a.m. breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and headed to Cullman! We were I was a barrel of nerves the entire night before (I slept three hours) and ride down, but once we got there I was totally fine. Promise. Em and me were the only ones skydiving that morning, so we hung out with the guys who work there until the clouds broke at noon. This “hang out time” consisted of me asking an annoying amount of questions about how I wouldn’t die, them completely calming any and all nerves, and watching Yeah Man. Funny movie, by the way.


I always imagined I’d be sick as a DOG with nerves on the plane ride up, but I was excited in the way that I am as I’m going on a roller coaster and we’re nearing the top. We just couldn’t stop smiling. Once we saw the green light that signified jump time, I was PUMPED! Emily went first, and I followed about 10 seconds later. The instructors have you sit on the edge with your feet dangling (over 14,000 feet!!) for about three seconds, and then you just fall out.


That free fall was the fastest 60 seconds of my life! I felt like I was falling, but not in a terrifying way. It was just cool. After the guy pulled the parachute, we coasted back to solid ground for about five minutes. THAT was really awesome. And you want to talk about quiet? I felt like time was just standing still for a few minutes. Yes, I’ve been on an airplane more times that I can count on my fingers and toes times two, but seeing everything NOT behind an airplane window was just incredible beyond words. My skydiver took me through some clouds and did some spins for fun. Landing was easy, and when I finally met up with Emily she was smiling just as big as I was.


All we wanted to do was do it all over again.


Would I recommend skydiving? MAYBE. If you have ever had the slightest inkling to go, DO IT. I absolutely guarantee that you WILL NOT regret it. On the other hand, I would never CONVINCE someone to do it because I can see how the ride up would be terrifying IF THIS WAS SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T WANT TO DO TO BEGIN WITH. If you DO want to do it, just suck up your fear and GO! It’s an incredible experience. With the $15,000 equipment each skydiver uses to keep you safe, there is seriously NO WAY you can get hurt. They say that people only get hurt when they are trying to do fancy stuff on landing.


Well this was perfect timing. My flight was called for us to board. Hope to update this thing soon.


Happy 4th of July, if I don’t post before then. Enjoy the day, but I humbly ask you to take 10 seconds out of your day to say a prayer and thank God for your freedom along with a prayer for our troops who ALLOW us to spend our time at the lake, beach, cookouts, etc. West Point lost an incredible guy from the class of ’09 last week. He had a beautiful new wife and a good family.  His name was Dimitri Del Castillo, so please include them in your prayers as well.


xoxo –
Erica

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