For the second year in a row, I hosted a Galentine’s Day indoor skydiving excursion. I sported a “Boss” T-shirt for the occasion to dispel any doubt who was in charge. Kidding. Not really.
I joked with the one friend who hadn’t ever flown before that she had to go first. To my surprise, she was game. We ended up flying from youngest to oldest, which still put her first. By that same logic, I went last, which was fine by me since I believe, as the host, guests should go first.
For the first time ever, I entered the wind chamber without any nervousness. Even our instructor commented on how relaxed I was during my flying time. Thank goodness my sister was there to take pictures and videos. I had no sense of how high I’d flown on my own.
This time of year, there’s an indoor flying competition; so several teams were present. We shared our flight time with a team who practiced different configurations in between our flights. At least two of the competitors looked older than me. If I ever get an opportunity to retire, I’ll add this sport to my routine. (How I wish there was a word with more pizzazz than “routine” or “hobby” to describe something one enjoys doing on a regular basis.)
The moment I had been waiting for, the second flight to go to the highest level. The only way the experience could have been more thrilling was to do tricks, which may occur in the future when I have more time and money.
As a matter of fact, while we waited to have our preflight safety class, there was a lone flyer who worked on technique one-on-one with an instructor. That’s truly the way to do it. As for now, I cannot afford to drop a few hundred dollars for ten minutes of instruction.
I enjoy getting together with friends once a year to fly. And my sister, who’s only flown once and crossed it off her bucket list, mainly looked forward to the post flight lunch. She recommended a nearby Peruvian place, which was delicious.
There’s something about completing a fun group activity that makes delicious food taste even better. The conversation flew around as animatedly as we’d each flown, making the whole experience one of the best Valentine’s days I’ve had.