I did it, and I'll do it again!

I'm BACK!!!! I'm alive and well, obviously. This past weekend was one of the best weekends I've ever had! Wow. My mind is racing with a million things to say but somehow I can't just put them into words. I'm speechless. That's a first, huh? I wanted to say thanks to everyone who made this weekend very memorable. I had an excellent time. Everything was great! So, here's the play by play starting with Friday night...

I waited for a friend to come into town and grabbed my two kids and Jeff and met him at Cici's for dinner. Yummy! After that, we went back to my apartment and watched an interesting movie - Zodiac. A bit slow in some parts and it seemed like a LONG movie but it was interesting. It left us with a couple of questions though. Great conversation topic, I guess, if we run out of things to say. It was a short night but it was good nonetheless. I actually couldn't sleep until 4:30 or so so I bummed around on the internet and watched tv. Guess I was anxious about the next day.

Saturday morning, I went and dropped my kids off at a friend's. I made sure to give them extra hugs, kisses and "I love you's" before I took off. Everyone showed up at my apartment around 1:30ish and we made our way to the drop zone. When I got there, I was feeling a little nervous but not too much. I was mostly in awe of all the jumpers and their parachutes in the building. We checked in and got a bunch of papers to sign. They all said the same thing - they cannot be sued if I get seriously injured or killed. The very last page was very scary. In BIG letters, it gave a huge warning that I might be seriously injured or killed. That sobered me up, a little. I signed it anyway and hoped I wouldn't regret it.

We had to wait a little over two hours before we finally had our turn. All my friends and I sat outside in the shade under a big tree and just chatted. That was really nice. When it was time for our turn, I suited up then met with my tandem instructor. He explained the basics of jumping. What I should do, shouldn't do, blah blah blah. It was pretty quick. One of my friends that was tandem jumping with me decided to buy me a video for the occassion. So this dude shows up with a camera and starts talking to me. It took me a while to get used to the camera. I'm pretty camera shy. Before I knew it, we were making our way to the plane. We boarded the plane and wow, it was pretty hot in there. There was at least 15 people, maybe 20, all crammed in a small plane sitting right next to each other. It felt like a really slow climb to the top. When I first suited up, I felt hot. When I got into the plane, I felt hot. But once we started nearing the top, I was feeling cold. The air up there is different from the air down below. It's pretty cold up there. B, who was tandem jumping with me, seemed pretty nervous. That was funny. B and J expected me to be a little nervous but it was B that was freaking out a little. Just before it was time to jump, my instructor and I had to get ready. I had to sit on his lap. Yes, I sat on another man's lap. A stranger at that! I made a comment to J about it.. it just felt really peculiar to be sitting on a strange guy's lap! He strapped me to him ... very tightly. If there were any boundaries to privacy, there weren't any more. I was as close to a guy as I could get. That was... weird. I put on goggles and took deep breaths. Finally, it was time to jump. My instructor and I made the plunge. In all my photos and in the video, I have my head pressed up against my instructor looking up. Everyone keeps saying "Ha! You were too scared to look down!" Actually, that's wrong. I had to do that, unfortunately. I really wanted to look down, I did! It wouldn't have freaked me out either. Oh well.

WOW! It's a feeling like no other. I have never felt so free before in my life. I knew I was falling, and it felt like I was falling but at the same time, it felt like I had defied gravity. It was amazing. I found out from B that him and his instructor did a couple flips. I was jealous. I wanted to do that! I will be sure to ask my instructor to do that next time if I went back. I can sit here and try to think of creative and fancy words to describe the sensation but I just can't. You have to EXPERIENCE it. This isn't something that anyone can just explain. The freefall was short - about a minute - before we opened the chute. Right when we opened the chute, we flew up a litle (or that's what it felt like). When we slowed down, it felt like I was actually suspended in the air - not moving at all. It was a very surreal feeling. Then we played around and flew for a few minutes, spinning around and taking in the sights. Then we landed.

We had dinner at Carino's, my favorite italian place. I LOVE their cannoli. Afterwards, we all went to L and P's house and hung out. We ate my cookie cake (Thanks P!), played a card game and chatted. We were all pretty tuckered out from an exciting day so we all went home kind of early. It was at 2am but hey, that's early to me!

Today, I went to church, ate lunch with B and some other friends. Went home and hung out with B and J. We chatted, played Dr. Mario (one of my favorite video games) and played with my kids. After B left, J and I watched August Rush. A lot of music (not our type) but overall, I really enjoyed the movie. Awww!!! I really liked the ending!

Obviously, my weekend was great! Now - if only I can figure out how to top this birthday. Any ideas on what I can do next year?