Friday at noon, I climbed 30 feet into the trees near the creek. Saturday, I climbed 10,000+ feet into the sky, leaned out into the nothingness, and let go. The one second I spent hanging out of the plane, looking down at Northwest Arkansas with the sun on the horizon on such a beautiful day, is something I will be thinking about for a while. The 15-20 minute plane ride to get the right altitude was gorgeous, too, even though we were cramped into a very confined space. If you are prone to nervousness or overthinking, this part would be your downfall. The 30 seconds of freefall was an adventure, but nothing could top the loud roar of the plane and the wind going silent in my head and fading away in that one single second. I kept waiting for the nervousness to hit me; it didn’t seem real. It was more of a hassle waiting on the process to get on the small plane. Erika accompanied me to the site but, surprisingly, wasn’t interested in jumping out of a perfectly good washing machine disguised as an airplane. Just letting go and falling, knowing everything was beyond my control. Once the parachute deployed, it was live tv with the world at my feet. Trees won’t feel the same to me now. The only real danger of jumping is the landing. It went perfectly as I slid across a few yards of clover and came to a stop. Back to the real world, with the memories of allowing myself to let go and jump into the sky.

Love, X