Tom Petty said it best.

Gliding. Soaring. Flying. Who am I kidding, I was falling. Falling? Better yet, I was plummeting. I was plummeting towards the plush green grass of Interlaken from 14,000 feet in the air, strapped onto an older man named Andrew who I had met not just 30 minutes earlier. I put my 20 years of life in Andrew’s hands, hoping that this whole “parachute” deal was going to really happen in about 30 seconds after the initial freefall. You may ask yourself, why in the world would I pay a large chunk of money to willingly jump out of a helicopter? Well, in Interlaken, Switzerland people almost never question the decision to do so, rather they look to it as just one way of experiencing the thrill, the fresh Swiss air, and the pure beauty of the countryside.

Being an adrenaline junkie, I knew from the first moment I heard about Interlaken, Switzerland’s extreme sports that I wanted to be apart of it. Arriving in Interlaken around 3:30pm, Kari, Tim, Bill, Megan, Liz, and I checked into the Funny Farm hostel. Within the hour, we were being shuttled to Skydive Interlaken, one of the many skydiving companies in the area. The sunny, clear day was perfect to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity (for most).



The five of us signed away our lives without any question, simply pausing to ask the date. Tim, however, was a bit more hesitant. He argued with himself back and forth weighing our opinions and his previous thoughts about diving through the air to solid ground. Finally convinced, he signed and the six of us were officially a skydiving team. Jumping at the chance to go first, Megan and I volunteered immediately to get changed. Getting our blue jumpsuits and a variety of straps and locks on, we posed for pictures with excited, anxious, and utterly terrified faces. I tried playing it cool, but apprehension crept in like it was my new best friend. Megan and I sat silently in the van on our way to the helicopter pad, still evaluating our life-threatening decision. With the video camera in action, we laughed uncomfortably with wide eyes and made small talk about how ridiculous my knee high argyle socks looked to distract us from thinking about the next fifteen minutes of our life.


So you know when you are on a plane looking out the window as you have just taken off? The view is gorgeous and you can see miles in miles of just winding roads, trees clumped into forests, and tiny cars slowly creeping along. Megan and I are currently seeing this same gorgeous view, but of Interlaken of course. However, we are not in the safety of the enclosed space of the plane, rather we are in a helicopter that does not have a door. Megan’s leg is hanging out of the side, while my feet are dangling over the bench being blown in the wind. After about ten minutes of just roaming over the mountains in our chopper, Tony (Megan’s tandem partner) gave the sign of the two-minute warning. She anxiously looked my way and we grabbed each other’s hands. Before I knew it, Megan was standing outside of the helicopter on its metal leg about to jump. She looked up in the air and with the video rolling, was thrown out of the chopper. After watching my own video, I learned that I had covered my face and was screaming for her as she fell while I was still safe in my seat. Andrew peered around my shoulder and asked if I was ready. I looked straight at the video camera and replied, “I love you Mom, and I am so sorry.” Andrew laughed and said his apologies to my mother as well as he took me to stand on the outside of the helicopter.


Oh. My. God. Those three words were the only thing that would come out of my mouth. The wind blew hard, my hair was tousled and my face smashed into the goggles. And then I was “freeeeeeeeeee, freeeeee falllllinnnnnn’.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist, but those Tom Petty lyrics really do describe exactly what happened for the next 30 seconds. The wind pushed past me, my heart raced with a throbbing I had never experienced, and my face was in ultimate distress mode. I was skydiving. My legs and arms flew back behind me and my body bent like banana, the exact way Andrew described it would during our prepping. Then before I knew it, nothing but a smile could be seen or felt on my face. I was in pure bliss and forgot all about that big ‘ol sheet that is going to pop out with a tug of a rope to stop me from diving to my death (or at least that was what it is designed to do). The rush is nothing like you could ever experience on a roller coaster or in a man-made wind tunnel. It’s you and your tandem partner strapped to each other simply flying through the air.



With my surprise, the parachute did in fact open and pulled us back from the impact of the wind. Andrew took the ropes and did figure eights and various spins as we floated through the air. My mouth was wide open with excitement and I even think a little drool may have slipped from the corners. It was an astonishing view. We drifted a little longer and I watched as Megan made a smooth landing in the field. Andrew reminded me to lift up my legs as we followed behind to make our landing. I slid on my patched up jumpsuit with Andrew still attached holding the video camera to my face. I screamed with giddiness and continued to tell the camera how amazing the experience was. I finally turned and smiled as I made the final comment, “Mom, I’m sorry that I’m not sorry.”