A few weeks ago, Joey told me to keep June 1st open for my birthday gift. He had a surprise planned, and since I absolutely LOVE surprises, I happily agreed.
I had NO idea what to expect...
Other than having to leave by 9 am, I didn't know much about what was going on (since I love surprises, I don't ask about it, I don't try to figure it out. I just let it happen.) On the way there, Joey tried to trick me and told me we are going to Luray Caverns, which I didn't believe, so he tried again by telling me we were going on a wine tour. I didn't think he would try to trick me twice, so I was like, awesome! I love wine, it's a beautiful day, let's do this. He totally talked it up and really made me believe we were going on a wine tour, so when we pulled into the airport, I had no idea what was going on until he said, "Surprise! we're going skydiving!"
Immediately, I became excited and nervous and a little scared, but ultimately thinking it was pretty darn cool and one of the best birthday gifts I've ever gotten. Sky diving has been on my bucket list for a long time and while I've talked about doing it, I never actually got the guts to schedule it.
We went through some training, suited up, and hopped on the plane. The plane ride was actually the worst part of the experience. It was bumpy and we had a few...interesting...calls, so by the time we hit 13,000 feet, I was more than ready to jump. The free fall was my favorite part. The rushing, cool air; the feeling in your stomach; the view...it was the coolest feeling. I absolutely loved it. I got a little sick to my stomach after the parachute deployed and we were just gliding through the sky. Recommendation: if you get motion sickness even a little bit: take some Dramamine. I took it after the fall and felt fine, but wished I had taken some before.
View from the plane
My instructor and I
Joe and I on the plane. The instructor laughed at us for holding the hands the whole way up. It was keeping me calm :)
Joe about to jump out.
Crawling to the edge of the plane
And we're falling!
My 'Holy crap, I can't believe I'm doing this, just don't get sick' face.
We survived!
We jumped with
Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures (or check out
their website), so we were in the blue ridge mountains and the view was beautiful. Not to mention we had perfect weather. Our instructors were incredible, and made me feel so comfortable about everything, yet also challenged me to do a few things that scared me. Like controlling the parachute. (I did not want to do it, but my instructor, Jonathan, was awesome and pushed me to do it and I'm so glad I did.)
Jonathan, my instructor, goofing off after we landed
Joey's awesome parents knew about the surprise, and called the office ahead of time to have the whole thing photographed and videotaped. It was such an amazing compliment to the Skydiving experience, because now I have over 300 photos and a 10 minute video of the experience. I am so thankful and blessed to have a boyfriend who's parents (and family!) are absolutely fantastic and so supportive of our crazy adventures.
A quick post-jump selfie.
I still can't believe I did it (excuse my language, but I feel like a total badass!) and I can't believe how calm I stayed the whole time. I'm actually glad I was surprised with it because I had less time to over-think it and freak out about it. I just did it. I am beyond thankful to Joey for this amazing experience and giving me the courage to do something so awesome! Although, I will totally admit I screamed and had a few choice words when we first jumped, but it was still probably the coolest thing I've ever done...
and I can't wait to do it again.
