Day #3
I was driving along Route 16 with my windows wide open. Singing along with my radio distracted me long enough to forget the check that was loosely tucked up in my visor. As I approached the exit for the mall, with the speed of a “foot in mouth” comment you wish you could take back, that check shot out of the window with the wind and sailed away among the cars behind me! There was nothing I could do in that moment – I felt hopeless (and broke!).
Fast-forward many years to the skies over Cape Town, South Africa. A small, single prop plane flew nearly 9,000 feet in the cloudless sky. The plane lacked elite status, with strips of duct tape scattered about and a piece of heavy white cardboard nailed to the side opposite the door. This door, absent of any locking mechanism, rolled open and closed and constituted nearly the entire right side of the plane. “The air is a bit warmer today,” one of the men declared as he put his hand up to a gap in the metal of the ceiling.
Packed inside were six people and a pilot. Alan Chelsea and I paired with our life-saving partners composed the entire passenger list as we journeyed to 9,000ft prepared to jump into the South African air. Tucked into the front right corner of the plane was Alan’s tandem partner, with Alan sitting close in front. To their right sat my tandem partner, Jason. He looked remarkably similar to Hugh Grant’s roommate in the movie Notting Hill, but I didn’t care as long as he knew how to pull open our shute! In front of Jason, between his outstretched legs sat me, with one arm wrapped around my legs and the other gripping Chelsea’s hand. She sat next to me, pressed up against the “not so safe” door. Her tandem partner Beu, sat opposite her, periodically checking his altimeter watch. Finally, “Ok, let’s get ready!”
Let the record show that up until this point, I was ok. I was anxious and quietly terrified, but I was composed. It had all happened so fast: got out of the car, signed my life away, strapped on a harness that would hopefully keep me alive, walked to a plane that defied all logic, climbed in without so much as a second thought, and silently panicked momentarily as the plane climbed off the runway. Squeezing Chelsea’s hand, the reality had not fully sunken in yet. When Beu announced we had reached our altitude, and Chelsea began to turn her body around to be strapped to her soon to be hero, reality came rushing in like cold to your nerves. As I scooted onto Jason lap so I could be secured, I instantly began to panic. The fear increased exponentially as soon as Beu rolled open the door and moved toward the opening where the door had been seconds before. Gripping Jason’s thighs I began to declare, “I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” Even though I was not going to ask to stay in the plane or have it turn around and land, there was still that little bit of "escape" left right up until that moment when Beu announced it was time. In that second, it was official, there was no turning back.
In the same way it is nearly impossible to avert your eyes from a car wreck, I struggled to look away as Chelsea dangled over the edge of the plane on her guide’s lap. Suddenly, like the check that flew out of my car window so many years ago, Chelsea was gone! She had disappeared into the sky, and I was next. As the insane reality of what just happened struck me in the gut, a split second passed in silence. Then, with increased despair, I began to cry (only a little!) and panic; however, despite it all, I miraculously remembered every direction previously given to me. I tucked my feet under the plane, tilted my head back into Jason’s neck, and prayed to God!
Whooosh! Just like that…I was gone!
For what felt like minutes, I shot through the blue sky, face to the ground, with the air deafening me. I forced my arms out to my side like a bird and willed my eyes open long enough to see table mountain, the waters of False Bay, and the brown and greens of the landscape below. Jason tapped my shoulder, he pulled the cord, and our bodies reversed direction. The roar of the wind silenced as if turned off by a switch. The free fall ended. There I hung on the front of a man named Jason floating thousands of feet above Cape Town in awe of the scenery that lay below me. In disbelief that the girl who has feared heights for as long as I can remember just dropped out of the sky willingly! I smiled with appreciation for life and pride for me!
What better way to top skydiving than with a glass of wine…in fact-several glasses! Our morning was spent falling from an airplane and our afternoon would be spent touring the wineries in the heart of Stellenbosch – part of the Cape Winelands of South Africa. We spent several hours driving from one vineyard to the next sampling some of the finest wines in all of SA. The six hours we spent sitting back, relaxing, and sipping reds and whites was the icing on the cake that was our day. Green fields striped with grape vines were nestled below the Helderberg Mountains and provided some of the most incredible scenery I’ve ever seen. Many times during this day I found myself feeling the kind of contentment that declares, “I could stay like this forever.” 
Cheers!
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