One of my bucket list items has always been to go skydiving despite being terrified of heights. I've had a lot of free time lately and began researching places to go skydiving in the Cincinnati area. I saw that they were relatively close to me (About an hour's drive way) and offered a deal of 125 dollars for a tandem jump on Wednesdays (Which is a steal when you think about the expenses of running a plane and having someone go with you), so I quickly booked for an early morning slot. On the day of the jump, I was really nervous about the whole ordeal, but I forced myself to go because I had already paid for it. I was able to quickly get through the waiver process and was guided towards the waiting area where I waited for a period before the other jumpers in my group showed up. There was some confusion about who I would be jumping with at first, but I was teamed up with a man by the name of Larry Compton as my tandem partner and woman named Natasha as the person who would be filming my jump. After getting on my jump suit and the necessary harnesses, I was shepherded onto the plane alongside Larry and Natasha. While sitting in the plane, Larry calmly and simply explained what the jumping process would be like. The plane slowly got started and went up into the air. Honestly, this was the most nerve-racking part of the whole ordeal as the anticipation set in. Once we were ready to jump, I briefly considered chickening out and not jumping, but manned up and walked to the open door with Larry and jumped out with him. For a split second, I was convinced I was going to die before the absolute thrill of free-falling took hold. For a solid minute, I felt the wind in my face and the sheer terror and excitement of plummeting towards the Earth at a high speed. I hammed it up for the camera that Natasha had in front of me before Larry deployed the parachute and we gently started floating down towards the ground. It was at this moment that the quiet and serene beauty of being by yourself and seeing the Earth from a distance set in. It had a calming effect on me and seemed like a perfect way to do some thinking. Larry even allowed me guide the parachute for a bit before taking over as we got close to the ground. As we got near the landing zone, Larry explained to raise my legs and prepare to slide onto the grass for a gentle landing. I did just that and smoothly reached the Earth, happy to be alive. I quickly got my harnesses off and felt a little woozy, but was feeling accomplished and had gotten such a rush from the experience. I shook Larry's hand and waited for about 20 minutes for the video and photos of my experience to be given to me before heading off to go on with the rest of my day. I felt a bit dizzy after the jump, but that went away after an hour and wasn't so bad that I felt I needed to lay down or something. All in all, my experience with StartSkydiving was everything it needed to be. It was affordable and top-of-the-line in every regard. I couldn't have asked to be paired with a better tandem partner than Larry Compton as he was experienced, calming, and professional. I'm not sure if I'll ever go skydiving again, but I can say that my first time doing it was a total blast and I thank the fine folks of StartSkydiving for that.
