Evelyn

Prayer is a powerful thing. And you have done your share to generate prayers for Icarus. If it is meant to be she will make it. We have a cat that suffers from lukemia and aids. Every time he gets sick we think we are going to lose him. But thanks to good veterinary skills and lots of prayers, he is thankfully still with us. So don't give up hope. She just may make it.

F**k. Surprised noone got this before me. Am not allowed to use it at work anymore though Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Yay!! So happy for you Rosa. Hope everything has healed well. Looking forward to jumping with you again! Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

So sorry to hear the sad news. Like others have said, just be there for her, a shoulder to cry on, someone to bring meals, drive her around, etc. I think it is especially disturbing when a young person takes their own life. Maybe due to hormones, lack of life experience, everything seeming more intensified. I had a cousin who committed suicide at 16. That was 30 years ago and I don't think my aunt and uncle have gotten over it, but they went through therapy and got on with their lives for the sake of their other children. Thoughts and prayers for you and your friends. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

How nice!! Parents can be great! I was visiting my parents one weekend and was using their computer to look on ebay for a used jump suit. My mom asked me how much a new one would cost and I told her and when I left she handed me an envelope and said "here's the money for your jumpsuit". Next time I visit I have to tell them I'm looking for a used rig. Hint, hint. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Oh, forgot to say, buy a Corvette now that you're 40. You'll have an excuse, mid life crises and all. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Happy 40th birthday! But 40 is nothin. Just wait till you turn 50 and AARP starts sending you stuff. Can't complain about 50 though, cuz if I hadn't been turning 50 would probably never have gotten around to doing a tandem SD, which led to AFF, etc. So enjoy 40's while you can, cuz 50 is just around the corner. Yeah, you could have gone all night without hearing that, huh? But seriously, the years between 40 and 50 go really fast! So Happy Birthday, enjoy!!

Kris, so sorry that you are feeling down. From the posts I gather it has to do with Icarus. Though I don't know you well, from talking with you and reading your posts you seem like a very sensitive, caring person. Those seem to be the type of people who get hurt easily. Don't beat yourself up. You did what you could, and more than most people would have done. If there were more people like you the world would be a better place. So please try to cheer up and be happy that you are a good person and did what you could. Major hugs to you.

Just voted and Nola had 96% of the votes. What a cutie! Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

I don't know you to joke with you about your sore ass, but I can tell you that I had a couple of hard butt landings, and although it wasn't broken, it took months to heal. Didn't keep me from jumping, but was painful to sit for the first couple weeks and even after would notice it when I'd sit down, stand up, and even now, months later I notice when I've been on the stationary bike at the gym for awhile when I get up my ass hurts. It just takes time to heal, you just have to live with it. When I know you better I'll make rude comments about your sore ass Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Oops. Better modify, Maybe not everyone thought that. Maybe it was just my warped thinking. But I didn't intentionally swoop the sheep. Thought they were plump white bushes until I got down close. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Glad we don't have corn in Perris. Sometimes there are sheep in the surrounding fields and manifest will make an announcement saying there are sheep in ---- field, please do not swoop the sheep. And of course that makes everyone think, oh, sheep, swoop, cool.

Isn't he awesome to jump with? I jumped with him for the first time last week, a 6 way, which did well, completed the skydive, but not a lot of points. When I asked him afterwards how I did, he said there were a lot of different fall rates on that jump and we should do another jump with people with a similar fall rate as mine, so we did a three way and it was great. Everything went as planned from exit to breakoff. Turned 9 points and that was with taking it slow and pausing in between each point. I had heard that jumps always go great when jumping with Dan BC. I'm really excited that I'll be doing the 4 way camp with him. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Did they train you to look over your shoulder to see what's going on before you pull the handles? That's the first step to handling a malfunction properly. Not looking got me two canopies out at once.

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear she is eating and hopefully she will be okay. She really was cute, and so nice of everyone to contribute....but how could we not when we'd seen her throughout the day. BTW Kris, enjoyed jumping with you and talking to you today. Did the bear get to do a skydive? Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

I've never had a reserve ride, but a few friends have recently. I worry about if I would react in time. I practice before every jump, look red, grip red, look silver, pull red, pull silver. But it's one thing to practice and another to actually do it. For those who have had a reserve ride, was it just kind of second nature, like getting stable? I think I'd be okay cuz I almost cutaway once, had my hands on cutaway handles at 2500, then took one last look at my canopy and it popped open. Today after I threw out my pilot chute counted to 5, am usually open in about 3, when nothing out at 5 automatically went for red, but then it opened. So I think I could probably react okay, but I still kind of worry if I could. Anyone else worry about this? Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

I actually had dinner plans with hubby and friends. Had good intentions, started to leave the DZ in time to get home and keep dinner plans. But ya know how it goes, ya start to leave and then stop to say good bye to everyone, have to stop by the pro shop to order your new canopy, gotta leave the deposit for the RW camp, before ya know it you're too late to make the dinner plans. But I did have good intentions. So told hubby to go to dinner without me and now I'm perfectly content to sit home and post. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

:5:0 Unlike great jumps last weekend, most exits funneled and didn't get through the entire skydive on any jumps. If this had been golf I'd be totally frustrated and vowing never to set foot on the course again. But, since this is skydiving and not golf, I still had a great time jumping with great people, and never considered for a second giving it up. Thank goodness I gave up golf for skydiving

Wow, I'm glad I read your post before trying to keep my legs together and getting even more unstable. You aren't kidding about it not being easy. Didn't realize it would be this hard though But it was my first attempt, so hopefully I'll get better. At least RW seems much easier after attempting to FF. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Thanks for the advice. I'm planning to make another attempt or two in between RW jumps this weekend, so I will try to concentrate more on my lower body this time. We'll see how it goes. Whatever happens, I'm gonna have FUN!!

Don't know about having a sit suit, but was told to wear a kind of baggy long sleeve shirt to help catch the air and help get into position. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully the next attempt will be better . Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Decided to try to get into a sit flying position. Exited from the SV not sure if I'd try to get into a sit on exit or get belly to earth and then try to get into position. Since I'm used to my tight fitting jumpsuit and 13 lbs. of weights, and I was wearing just tight shorts and a baggy long sleeve t-shirt, no weights when I exited it felt so wierd, like something was missing. My first thought was OMG, I lost my rig, but checked, no it was there. Stuck my arms out and pulled my legs up and tumbled all over the place. Got stable, checked my alti, still plenty of altitude. Tried it again. This time I actually got into a sit and thought cool, nothing to it. Held it for like 3 seconds before I started tumbling again. Got stable and checked my alti, at 5000, so decided not to try again since I wanted to be sure to be stable at pull time. Don't think I did too bad since I actually did get into position if only for a few sec. Hopefully next time it'll be longer. Someone told me to keep my legs together instead of apart and that would held with stability. Any advice would be appreciated. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Don't know if this is true of all guys, but my hubby has to change the channel on the TV to sports every time a commercial comes on. Sometimes he doesn't make it back in time and we end up missing part of the movie or whatever we were watching. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Really - What's the point? The threads really slow down after 12:00 Central time - I could post for hours during the day time when other people are posting, but there's just no action late at night.. That's pretty much the only time I can post, and there are other posters out there. You posted, didn't you? Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller

Sounds good, but I'm really craving sushi. Think I'm just gonna go to bed and dream about sushi. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing ~ Helen Keller