yatyas

I am glad that I stumbled on to this thread because I am currently in this situation. I recently made my first tandem jump last week on my 40th, and I must say that it was the most fun ever. My wife of 18 years does not like the idea of me jumping again, but my kids are now 18 & 22. My son only has two tri-mesters left before he graduates from Oregon State with his engineering degree, and my daughter just graduated from high school. Man these kids are quite expensive when they get older! I am a very conservative person that never takes unnecessary risks. I do not want to be 80 years old and say man I really wish I would have done this or that in life. I have already regretted not continuing my education, and I am currently not happy with my career path. I started my family when I was very young, and have worked my tail off to help give them all the tools is life to be happy & successful. You only live once and I believe that one needs to live life to the fullest. My family is currently back east (NJ) visiting family, and the skydiving conversation will come up again when they return. I really want to move forward with AFF, and then on to getting my A license. We will see how this goes. Wish me luck!!

Well I went back to Skydive Oregon today to ask a few questions and watch a couple of groups jump. It was very hard for me not to drop down the plastic, sign the waivers, and jump again. I told my wife I would not do this while she is back east visiting family. I gave her my word which is as good as gold. I hope to convince her when she gets back. We will see. Stevarino, I love the saying "your never too old to be young again"! I do not consider myself old, but I must say that I felt 20 years younger during my jump. Just a young kid again. Matthias, I was active duty from 84-88 as an Amtracker (2142). I used to haul you grunts around! I was in both 3rd Mar div & 2nd Mar div. Semper Fi my brother and to all my fellow servicemen & woman. Thank you for your service. Happy flying to all!!!

IBflying I think you have pretty much the same outlook as my wife. I know that my wife cares about me and that she is fearfull that I could become injured or worse. I do not blame her for becomming upset with me since I have told her that I am interesed getting into this sport. She want's me to be happy & have fun, but she thinks the risk is much to large. I really appreciate your point of view. Kudos to you for jumping tandem to see what all the fuss was about. I think I will try to drop by the DZ to get more information from some of the experienced jumpers. I will try to get my wife to come along once I get some of my own questions answered. Thank you everyone for your responses.

I do not think that my wife would ever want to jump since she has back issues, and a city girl from New Jersey! Sorry just had to throw that in. I did notice that all of the people in the diving community were very professional, friendly, and helpful. I think I may call up the DZ to see if I can hang out & talk to some of the experienced jumpers this weekend. I really want to see how they pack their containers. I need to know how it all works!! Thanks Hayfield

Hello, I just made my first tandem jump this last weekend on my 40th that my sister had purchased for me. I had mentioned to my sister several years ago that when I hit the big 40 (Never thought it would happen) I wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Well to my surprise my sister remembered this, and purchased this for me even though I had totally forgotten about this statement. My wife of 19 years (great lady & awesome mother) was not to happy about my sister buying this for me, and was very reluctant about me actually doing this. Well after several unpleasant discussions she finally decided to say ok after I said it would be a once in a life time deal. OK I honestly thought it would be! Well on Saturday my wife, and 18 year old daughter went with me to watch me jump at Skydive Oregon. She felt alot better after she watched a few groups of both experienced & tandem jumpers go before us with no problems. Everyone had big smiles on their faces after jumping. My jumpmaster was awesome! He ensured that my harness was on properly before entering the plane, and while on the plane he noticed that one of my leg harness had become a little loose after one of his several safety checks. It had only become slightly loose while getting into the plane, and I must say it was a bit snug in the plane. No biggie! Anyway all I can say is I was very comfortable when I fell out the plane, and it was the most fun I have ever had!! I cannot get out of my mind of how much fun I had, and I want to do it again. I do understand that there are dangers in this sport, but I believe if you think safety first I think it can be done safely. I am now thinking of getting my AFF, and then my A license. Maybe I am still a little too exited, but I really think this is for me. My wife on the other hand is not to keen about this and is still not on board. I would not sacrifice my family for this, but I really want to get into this sport. I would not consider myself a risk taker at all. I am a former Marine & I am still active in shooting sports (no hunting, just paper & steel), hiking, and just being in the outdoors in general. Most of the mistakes that I have read about other jumpers on this site have been due to people rushing to catch the next plane, or just being too comfortable (careless). Please do not take this as a slam. I am just a newbee looking for insight from some experienced jumpers, and am looking for some reassurance. What would you recommend me telling my wife that I want to do this? My wife has seen the 35mm pictures of me jumping, and she know that I had a kickass time with all the smiles on my face. Ok just wait until she sees the video that is comming. I can honestly say that this was the most fun ever!!!! She knows that I want to do this, but she is playing dumb. Any suggestions? Thanks Scott