gemini 0 #1 January 14, 2008 Saturday was a beautiful day at Spaceland. Clear skies. very little wind, temp in mid 60's. Not a bad day for January! After the fourth jump, Tom Jenkins comes up to me and says "Are you going to be here around 3:30PM? We are putting together a 20-way." "Sure, count me in" I replied. All day jumpers and staff had been coming up to me and wishing me a happy birthday. Lots of kisses from the women and handshakes and hugs from everyone. Someone jokingly said "Keep count of those kisses!" People would ask me what number I was up to? Lots of jokes about being SOS eligible. Really a great day. Sometime after 3:30 PM Tom called for a dirt dive and we all gathered around him. Tom and Kim Blood were the first to into the base. "Jim," Tom said "do a backend with me and Kimmey." Damn, I thought. I never should have told him I hated back-ends when I first started jumping! "Make a large left hand donut off Jim and a big star behind me", Tom said. This is a weird formation I thought. Tom usually sticks with normal formations. "Ok everyone who is left do a single handed left cat starting here." WTF??? Then it dawned on me.....a 6 and an 0. 60 damn they're doing this for me! Got videographer and staff jumping too! Crap I hope I don't screw this one up! Geared up, climbing to altitude everyone sang happy birthday and made comments like "better not be the only one low!" "Think you can make it to the formation old-timer?" "Do you want us to wait for you?" "Are you going to be able to arch and stay with us?" "Have you joined SOS yet?" For the first time in several thousand jumps, I was really anxious about the jump. Jump went really well considering that we had some people who normally don't do FS. A little rough, but Tom had enough people and spacing in the formation that even with one jumper low and one jumper lost and not docking you could tell it was a 6 and 0. The photos came out great too. In the landing area, everyone was laughing and excited. "Jim, come to manifest when you get a chance" came out of the PA. I dropped my gear and walked over to manifest, never seeing the huge sign that said "Happy 60th Birthday" and stepped into manifest which was full of people....not uncommon on a Saturday afternoon. As I rounded the corner, I see balloons and a very, very large cake and lots of beer. Uhoh I thought here it comes again. More kisses, hugs and handshakes! More singing. "Whats the number up to?" "I don't know 45 or so." "Well here's the rest"....ended with 63 when someone said "Hey who got sixty" Marianne said she did. "Then you get the free jump!" someone else said....ok now it makes sense!!! Anyway thanks to everyone who put it together, everyone who jumped with me, and everyone who stayed to party. Special thanks to Fred Clark and Abbey for the cake, balloons, and cards, and Tom J for organizing the dive, and everyone else for keeping the secret. Aren't you all glad I have a one track mind at the dz? I should have picked up all the clues....duh!!!! It really was a surprise...the first BD surprise party I ever had...so I guess I now owe you all a beer! Blues everyone and now on to the next 3,000 jumps and the next 60 years! Jim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Baksteen 84 #2 January 14, 2008 Happy birthday Any chance of seeing the pics or video? "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #3 January 14, 2008 All of that and no picture. WTF?? Happy Birthday!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkeenan 13 #4 January 14, 2008 Happy Birthday, Jim. It sounds like the Spaceland folks did it up right. Kevin K._____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cocheese 0 #5 January 14, 2008 Pretty cool friends you have there. Happy Birthday Jim. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
namgrunt 0 #6 January 14, 2008 happy birthday Jim you OLD fart thought only dirt was that old. 59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI) www.dzmemories.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marcandalysse 0 #7 January 14, 2008 Happy B'Day! Post the photos! Marc "The reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly." --GK Chesterton Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alanab 0 #8 January 14, 2008 happy belated jim!! miss you :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACMESkydiver 0 #9 January 14, 2008 Sounds like you have a lot, LOT of people that care about you. Speaks to the kind of person you must be. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!![/RED] What a very cool birthday story!! ~Jaye Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,121 #10 January 14, 2008 I was at the DZ for about 5 minutes on Saturday, and didn't know or I'd've come over and hugged you. Glad it was fun Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mirage62 0 #11 January 14, 2008 Happy Birth day you goatKevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick 67 #12 January 14, 2008 Happy birthday Jim hope to see you in March in DeLandYou can't be drunk all day if you don't start early! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LisaM 0 #13 January 14, 2008 Quote I was at the DZ for about 5 minutes on Saturday, and didn't know or I'd've come over and hugged you. Glad it was fun Wendy W. They DO keep good secrets there! Happy Birthday, Jim!!!! Great story! ~ Lisa ~ Do you Rigminder? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smooth 0 #14 January 14, 2008 Happy belated birthday Jim ! ! ! Thanks for sharing the story with us! Looking forward to seeing a picture from your birthday dive. Damn, you're old dude ! ! ! ! ! Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
INSANEDADDY 0 #15 January 16, 2008 Happy Birthday old timer........ You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dannydan 0 #16 January 16, 2008 What a frickin cool ass story Sir!! HAPPY belated Birthday Sir! Can't wait to meet you some day.. I think I want to watch this "back door" on your 69thpeace and my BEST REGARDS to ya :DD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #17 January 16, 2008 Congrats, JimBob. More years and more jumps to you, big guy.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar 5 #18 January 16, 2008 Doctor's got him on some new meds and he's been dreaming shit up all week.you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
