Belated Blogging - this will be backdated to June 3, 2019
"Mom, I'm going skydiving" ... Keaton was over 18 and didn't even need a parental signature or anything. I'm not one to jump from a plane, but I guess it was something Keaton wanted to try. Pictures are part of the process, and I had Keaton write up his memories of the event.
It started as a joke when me and my friend Daud considered going skydiving when we were thinking of things to do for his birthday. It had always been an idea, but no one in our friend group had actually done it. One night, Daud and I finally pulled the trigger and said we’re going to do it for his birthday. We were both so excited in the moment, not thinking ahead. The next day, I got on the skydiving website and went through all of the precautions and paperwork to prepare for our journey in the sky. I got our tickets booked for the morning of Daud’s birthday, and the second I clicked and made the purchase, my heart sank. That was the first moment it became real in my head. That I was going to jump out of a plane, thousands of feet in the air, above the mountains. I immediately texted Daud and he said he was freaking out too. So we’re off to a great start! As the days went on with the big day getting closer and closer, the anxiety would come and go blended with adrenaline and also tears. Overall, we were hyped.
On the day of his birthday, Daud comes to my house and we make waffles for breakfast. It’s 11:00 and we start making the drive out to Tooele in complete silence. Knowing the time and date of when your life is going to end is pretty gnarly. I don’t know why, but I was expecting some huge facility made of brick with UTAH SKYDIVE in big blocky led letters pointed at a parking lot and there would be multiple sets of double doors. But alas, when we get to the place, it’s down this abandoned road with a big old white tent. That’s the place. We walk inside, now content with how our lives were lived, and we tell the receptionist our reservation, sign a couple papers saying when we die we’re not allowed to sue, and then watch a cheesy tutorial video. We start getting our harnesses attached and laced up, got, introduced to our tandem instructors and they were both really awesome guys. Now we just wait for our plane to get prepared and ready for takeoff with a load of other people.
Daud and I sat outside the tent toward the massive landing zone. The skydiving crew said there was a group ahead of us that was getting ready to jump, so we stepped out and looked in the sky for a plane. I looked to the left and there was a plane about 2000 feet in the air and I looked at Daud and said, “Okay that’s not too bad. We can do that.” Then, my instructor tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that’s not the plane they’re jumping from. We look directly up from where we are standing and there’s another plane 13000 feet up and it’s smaller than the size of an ant on the floor. Mine and Daud’s hearts dropped along with our jaws. When the crew ahead of us started jumping you couldn’t even see them they were so small. They made it to the ground high on adrenaline. They look at me and Daud and tell us that our plane is ready and it’s our turn. Go time.
About a dozen of us in a small propeller airplane zigzagging our way up and up higher and higher for about 15 minutes. We make it to the top, get strapped in, goggles on. The people ahead of us opened the door and started jumping out the plane dropping like flies and me and Daud are just scooting forward like we’re inmates about to walk the plank on a pirate ship. I go first. Right before we jump, my instructor told me, “don’t forget to tuck in your legs and fall like you’re doing a backflip so I can release the stability chute. Don’t want it to get caught up! Alright let’s go!” Yeah okay. 1... 2... jump.
I saw the plane above me as I backflip towards the earth. I flip around, my instructor taps me on the shoulder, indicating I can release my arms and legs to fully free fall. It was the loudest sound I’ve ever heard; falling for 50 seconds at 120 mph. It was breezy, but that’s the last concern on my mind. I’m gonna die. Oh well, who cares, might as well enjoy this crazy view for my last moments. We can see over the Wasatch Mountains (keep in mind, we’re on the other side of the smaller mountains west of the Wasatch Mountains. It was a little hard to catch a breath, but every time I could, I immediately used it to yell at the top of my lungs of enjoyment. You can see all over the valley, both Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake.
My instructor pulls the chute and we jerk forward. He takes off my goggles and plugs my nose so I can blow and pop my ears. The satisfaction of your ears popping with that much adrenaline... so nice. People might think that once the chute is pulled that’s its smooth sailing all the way to the bottom. It could be, but not for me. He gave me the handles to control the direction of the parachute and it’s like a customized, insanely fast rollercoaster. That feeling that you get when you’re going really fast and making a sharp turn on a roller coaster where your head feels like it’s being pushed into your shoulders as you feel the G-Force almost separate your body. Yeah that. Not smooth sailing for me it was awesome. As you near closer to the surface of Earth, you start thinking how’s it’s been so long since you’ve been on land and at the same time you’ve only been in the air for 2 minutes but you don’t want it to end, but you wonder again what gravity feels like. Still hundreds of feet in the air, there’s that thought like the chute can still rip and we’re going crashing down. So there’s still adrenaline from that fear.
Eventually, we make it to the ground and lay the chute flat. Almost feeling reborn and I’m so happy. Daud made it to the ground and he runs over to me to tell me about it, and well, he had a similar experience. It was the greatest 3 minutes of my life.
