thrill | 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!!