skydiving!

skydiving has been on my life to-do list for about 7 years now and i finally got to cross it off! a couple of weeks ago the groupon was for a discount on skydiving and it definitely put a little fire under my butt to get it over with! my bff decided to go too. i was really excited during the days leading up to it but on the actual day i was FREAKING out. we drove all the way out to hinkley, il and ended up having to wait FOREVER because apparently skydivers are just like surfers - totally laid back with no structure. during the wait we got to watch a ton of people jump and land safely. we finally geared up after 3 hours of waiting and my instructor was SO nice! he definitely helped me calm down and made me feel totally comfortable. but i was still petrified. we finally boarded the plane and me and my friend were set to jump last. i got more nervous as the plane got higher and freaked out when we were the last to jump. the rest is all kind of surreal. i barely remember what it felt like to walk up to the open door of the plane to jump out. he snapped my head back and pushed off the plane and off we went. it all happened so fast. when we were free falling at 120 miles per hour i have no idea what i saw or what was around me. i just remember it being super cold and not knowing what to do with my mouth because if i tried to close it - it shot open, if i tried to scream - nothing came out. so i just tried to relax and enjoy the intense ridiculous experience of being sucked to the ground for 1 minute. it felt like forever. the instructor alerted me when it was time to pull the cord. when i did it shot us back up in the air and then it was all wonderful from there on out. i felt safe and calm and could enjoy the view as we floated down. my friend's instructor slowed them down so we could be close to each other and scream to one another in the air. it was so cool! he showed me how to maneuver the parachute so we could spin and make it a bit more exciting on the way down. we landed safely and got all ungeared and realized we were EXHAUSTED and totally nauseous! it's quite the rush that wears you out! the whole experience felt totally exhilarating and surreal. i still haven't been able to put the experience into words properly so this post doesn't even do it justice. i can't wait to do it again someday!

enjoy the thumbs up photos...lameeee i know