photos | Essence of Del

Daily Prompt: Walking on the Moon – What giant step did you take where you hoped your leg wouldn’t break? Was it worth it, were you successful in walking on the moon, or did your leg break?

Literally, the closest I came to walking on the moon was skydiving. I like to take risks, and this was one of those that I did to overcome a fear of falling from high places.

Half of me hate riding roller coasters and the other half love the thrill. My thing with, riding roller coasters is, I don’t like when my stomach comes up to meet my throat as we descend down the large slopes. I hold on for dear life to anything I can grab hold of, even though I know I am securely strapped in…just hate that feeling. Well, for an unconventional thrill, I got a friend to join me on my adventure in the sky.

“And the day came when the risk to reaming tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin

On another note – a second fear I had was, not making it to the ground alive. That fear stemmed from my work as a “tower” Air Traffic Controller (ATC) in the military controlling airplanes, when I witnessed the aftermath of an unfortunate event. Additional to controlling airplanes, we allowed other military branches to conduct parachute training at our airport facility. On this particular day, my ATC crew was called in to relieve the previous crew from their duty because, as they were watching an Army parachuting training event, the chute of a female trainee did not open and she crashed to the hard pavement. She died instantly with internal injuries and broken bones. As a requirement, the on duty crew had to debrief the tragic event with the investigators, so we took over their shift. We were later told, the cause of the accident was due to parachute malfunction. Damn!

Training (taken by Del) — Training (taken by EssenceofDel)

So back to my dive – after our brief training in the hanger, we went up for our ride. The first step out of the plane door wasn’t the scariest for me, as you would think. When we started falling is when the fear grabbed a hold of me. Grant it, I was tethered to a master instructor but really, what could he do to quell my internal fear…Nothing! As we were gliding, he yelled to me. “Are you alight?” Are you serious right now, is what I was thinking, but I just answered, “Sure!” It was somewhat comforting know I was not out there by myself. But seriously, him being there didn’t keep my stomach from rising up to meet my throat or my constant stream of prayer for my chute to open prior to a “safe” landing. He did take my mind off of the fall by talking to me and prompting me to take in beautiful scenery. He was good, guess that’s why he’s a Master instructor!

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn

I decided to swallow hard and just glide. Once sick feeling passed, I actually enjoyed riding the air. The scenery was amazing and the feeling of freedom was intoxicating. And…my chute opened…plus no broken bones! Yay!!! Fantastic!!

Smooth Gliding (property of EssenceofDel)

Would I do it again? Hell, Yeah! I’m excited just thinking about it now.

I made it! (property of Del) — I made it! (property EssenceofDel)

I would recommend skydiving to anyone who wants to a change of pace….I mean Really want to experience something different.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find to how far once can go.” – T.S. Eliot

WP Daily Post – http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/daily-prompt-moon-walking/

WP Daily Prompt: Imagine that tomorrow, all of your duties and obligations evaporate for the day. You get the day all to yourself, to do anything you please. What types of fun activities would make your day?

I recently relocated to California and am temporarily unemployed. I actually have the opportunity to do anything I please on a daily basis…I just have not been taking advantage of the opportunity, until today.

After my morning workout (a must in order to keep my mood on the up side) I was headed back to the house, but not looking forward to it because I knew all I would do was worry about “when will I start making some money again”. Well, on the way home, my car took a right turn (as if it was driving itself) away from the house and drove directly to the beach.

After parking the car, I bought something to eat, took it with me and found a spot on the beach among a bunch of kids running around having fun. Seeing the kids brought a smile to my face – aah, to be a kid again. As I ate the seagulls gathered around, kinda scary since they were very vocal, but I kept eating since we are not suppose to feed them.

I spread out my towel, settled in and got comfy, then I ate my lunch while I read – The Third Rule Of Ten: Tenzing Norbu Mystery by Gay Hendrick…love this mystery series where the main character is an ex-Buddhist, ex-cop, private investigator. What I enjoyed most of all was laying on my towel digging my toes into the cool sand and soaking up the warm rays.