Kailee has dreamed of skydiving for a very long time. And to her credit, she waited until she was 18, AND after I had Noah (because she knew that while I am pregnant I have the worst panic attacks!) but days after getting home she told me that she wanted to do it FINALLY... AND she wanted me to be there waiting for her at the bottom!!! I teased her that she is a little too young for a bucket list! But she insisted and what mom can say no to a girl so anxious and excited about jumping out of an airplane??? Not me! I am a sucker for saying yes to their dreams! :) And she does come by it honestly since her grandpa thought jumping out of an airplane seemed like a perfectly good thing to do... 101st Airborne, screaming eagles... and we were even more excited that grandpa wanted to be there to watch this crazy girl jump!!!
I teased her that I couldn't believe she was going to do this to me... everyone seemed to be worried that I was going to freak out or something. But in truth I was very excited for her and couldn't wait to see her live out one of her big dreams! This girl has no fear. She was so excited that there wasn't even a second of hesitation or nervousness. She was on fire, grinning from ear to ear before we even got to the airport and looked like she was walking on air before she even got into the airplane! Even better was that she got the BEST instructor. He was so happy to see how excited she was and I knew he was going to give her a jump to remember!
After running behind schedule, they were finally ready to get on the plane. Kailee was so excited. Full of nervous energy ready to get the show on the road. The instructors had been fighting over who got the 'pretty' girl. They kept teasing her, and saying, "You know you could die." But she didn't care. She has big brothers, so she gave it back to them as well. They kept asking if she was nervous, but she wasn't! In fact when it came time to jump she was looking down instead of holding her head back and her instructor had to push her head back!!! He told her she was the best first time jumper he had ever had. Her theory was that she was going to be falling through the air anyway, might as well relax and enjoy it!!!
My dad and I were out on the runway watching to see if we could figure out which one was Kailee. We knew she would be jumping first... but we couldn't tell which one was her. There were already people landing when my dad pointed out one of the jumpers doing flips in the air... it looked like a ferris wheel going around and around! I laughed and said that if anyone would be doing that... it had to be Kailee!!! Sure enough... It was Kailee!!! Avery (her instructor) had asked her if she wanted to do a 360... of course she said yes! Then he asked her if she wanted to do a 780... she asked what that was and he laughed and started spinning! He said that nobody spins anymore and was thrilled that Kailee was all for the adventure!!! But the wind picked up... and by the time they were ready to land, the big smiley face was out of the question and they landed on the landing strip... with a plane ready to land! She told him to get her off FAST! It was so funny to watch. They landed, and then she fell backwards onto him... he pushed her up and onto her feet and she ran off, a little afraid that she lived through the fall only to be crushed by the airplane! :)
Her first words to me were, "THAT WAS THE FUNNEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE!!!" Avery told her to ask for him next time she comes back, that she was the best student he had ever had!!! It seems she and grandpa are planning a jump as soon as they can. It's been a while, but her grandpa still dreams of jumping from an airplane. This will be something to see!!!
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