Skydiving

by Lori Pfahl

Let’s start from the beginning.  Melissa Petrini, the Chamber’s Program Director, won a certificate to skydive.  She wanted someone to go with her and a few months ago the planning to skydive started to take place. Dwayne Manning, of Grimm Construction, shared his skydiving experience in Hawaii. That is when out of nowhere my mouth open, “Melissa has a gift certificate to skydive!”  And it was decided, we will all go skydiving. Melissa asked Cindy Gillen-Klenk, Chamber President, if she would jump with her. Both Cindy and Dwayne agreed to skydive with her.  My “agreement” was to take pictures. The skydiving experience was cancelled twice due to bad weather. Dwayne set up the third attempt to jump for June 22nd. When he called to let me know the time, again my mouth opened, “I am going to jump with you, make my appointment with you.” I remember getting off the phone and thinking WHY did I open my mouth?  Cindy, Melissa, Dwayne, his son, and I would be skydiving on June 22nd at 9:00am.

The alarm clock went off and I was ready to start my day. I called Dwayne at 6:35am; it was cloudy and chance of thunderstorms throughout the day.  We both thought it would be cancelled one more time. Dwayne called the place and was told it would be cancelled at 9:00, BUT if it cleared up we could jump later in the day. At that point I called Melissa and Cindy to tell them it was cancelled AGAIN! Then the final curtain call came, change of plans, get ready we need to be there for 10:00 AM.  We are really going to jump!

Dwayne brought his son Dustin, nephew Joey, and his son’s friend Eric to experience skydiving with us.  The time has come to sign all the paperwork, watch a video and prepare to jump. The small plane only allowed two people to tandem jump at a time. Eric was the first person to jump. When I asked him, “What was it like?” He replied, “Like jumping into a picture!”

 I begin to think, what’s wrong with me, I must be crazy… I do not fear the jump. I have fear when I climb a stepladder! That is when I realized there was nothing to fear. Just be in the moment.

Joey and Melissa were the second jumpers. As I was taking pictures I was wondering what was going through Melissa’s mind. This was her first plane ride and she is going to jump out of it! Now that is COURAGE! I can see her smiling, everything went great. Here is that famous question “what was it like?” Her reply, “Awesome and I can’t believe I did it!”

Finally, Cindy and I get suited up. My instructor introduced himself and asked if I was ready to jump. Again, my mouth opened and I said, “Yes, I am ready to jump”. (I have no idea who was controlling my mouth to say YES!) As we practiced on the ground I was still wondering what was controlling me to move forward to jump. As we sat in the plane to reach 10,000 feet, I was enjoying the view of the clouds. Wondering what is it like to touch a cloud… well in minutes my question would be answered! Cindy gave me the high five slap and jumped out the plane door. No turning back now… it is my turn to jump.  As I rolled out of the plane I think I was numb. My experience was, being in a state of peace. I was truly living in the moment!

I felt the parachute open and continued to enjoy the floating feeling. So this is what it is like to be a bird.  As I touched the earth I remember standing up and feeling a great accomplishment. The accomplishment was not skydiving; it was living in the moment.
The best twenty-five minutes of my life took place that day. Yes, I have great things happen to me all the time but for the first time I was not questioning my decision or judging myself. There was no fear because I gave up something that day. I gave up judging myself. We spend so much time judging ourselves and others, we don’t live in the moment, and that is the pure beauty of living.  How many times have you wanted to do something, but were worried someone would judge you?  The feeling of ‘I am not looking good’, ‘this doesn’t look good’ can hold you back from simple things everyday. (That morning I thought I would never have enough time to shower and do my hair (a piece of ‘looking good’) before it was time to meet everyone. I think I shocked my husband with how fast I was out the door!) How many times have you missed out on a great opportunity because you were too busy trying to look good?

We make decisions everyday that will affect us for the rest of our lives. But are we making decisions based on what others think or what we really want. I don’t have the answer for you, but I do have a choice for myself. I can live in fear of being judged or I can live in the possibility that life is about living moment to moment. Some times we have to take those risks to step out of the box.   When fear has you stopped, it could be an opportunity to grow, and you will not grow if you stay in the box. We will continue to make judgments and have evaluations, but we must remember they are opinions, based on stories we made up. If you are feeling stuck in life, maybe it is time to try something new. Your life begins everyday. Only you can make the difference. No one is going to hand you a manual of life.

 
I want to thank Cindy and Melissa for being a great part in helping me step out of the box! I have a great team working with me at the chamber. It is the teamwork that makes our chamber a success!
Also, I have team of people that support me from family, to my friends, and even strangers. I am truly blessed with great people in my life.  It is up to me to make sure to keep them in my life, to truly live in the moment with them. Don’t wait; start living in the moment today! Take that risk to step out of the box or plane…you will be pleasantly surprised.