If you’re looking for the family adventure of a lifetime, skydiving is right up your alley. It’s exceptionally fun, thrilling, and will create memories that will last a lifetime. I recently went to the Wisconsin Skydiving Center for the first time and had a phenomenal time.
Was I terrified? Absolutely, but the entire skydiving team was compassionate, professional, and confident. They easily put all of my greatest fears at ease. I so recommend heading over to the skydiving center right now. If you’re not convinced, I figured I should share a bit about my story and how it created a once in a lifetime bond with my whole family.
To be clear, I am not the bravest person in the world. I eat spicy food and do Spartan races every year, but that is nothing like throwing myself out of an airplane. Skydiving has absolutely terrified me my entire life. Then, one day, my class (I’m a fifth-grade teacher) was participating in a storytelling exercise when one of my students started talking about going skydiving with their family. They asked me if I had ever gone skydiving and I quickly told them no.
You see, I have an intense fear of heights. I’ve always strongly preferred to keep my two feet planted firmly on the ground. That night I spoke to my husband about the classroom conversation and he shared with me that he had the exact same fear of heights. In that moment of vulnerability we both realized that this was a fear we needed to conquer.
My husband is a construction worker and provides concrete services throughout Wisconsin. So, he’s a fairly measured and analytical man. Needless to say, it took a few days of pestering to convince him that skydiving was worth the money and risk. My thirteen-year-old son on the other hand had no reservations whatsoever. Eventually we poked and prodded enough until my husband acquiesced.
Convincing My Family to Go Skydiving
With him on board, we started doing research. We scoured over Google for the best skydiving company to go through. There were a lot of options, but the Skydiving Center caught our attention immediately. Even on their website they focused on safety, best practices, and how to ensure a fun experience. They talked about what to look out for when planning a jump adventure. Talking to them on the phone, they answered our questions patiently, and quickly got us scheduled in their books.
The morning of the jump was terrifying. I was shaking all over, nearly spilled the cereal all over the floor. It was a nightmare! As we neared the Wisconsin Skydiving Center, I almost turned the car around and drove home. Through it all my husband and son egged me on. We were committed and the jump was inevitable.
My Experience the Wisconsin Skydiving Center
My first interaction with the skydiving team was fraught with nerves, but they quickly did everything they could to soothe my every worry. They had strong answers for every question. They showed us the ropes, went over the gear, and soon we were suited up. Stepping onto that plane, I looked down at the concrete below, and whimpered. It was time to go.
There are no butterflies like those of someone who is ascending into the sky, knowing full well that at some point soon they would be hurtling back down to the ground. We reached the ideal altitude and my son was going to go first. At that moment my mothering instincts kicked in and I told my family I needed to go first. There was no way my family was going to leave my field of vision for even a second as they were falling through air. With my skydiving instructor in tow, I waddled my way to the open door. We got to the edge of the plane and I made the mistake of looking down.
My entire body froze up as I saw the long, long, long journey before me. That was when my instructor started egging me on. They knew just what to say and suddenly we were falling. In Toy Story, Woody talks about “falling with style.” That is absolutely not what I did. There was no style to what my body was doing. It was flailing and flying all over the place.
The exhilarating (and terrifying) skydiving experience
My instructor, bless him, kept talking to me the whole way. Quickly he coached me through flattening out, and started pointing to all the different landmarks that could be seen. It was glorious. Everywhere I looked was stunningly gorgeous. Nothing compares to seeing Wisconsin from a bird’s eye view.
To be honest, most of the jump is a bit of a blur. It happened so fast, my nerves were so intense, but once I relaxed it was unbelievable. Soon I reached the ground, looked up, and saw the grinning faces of my two-favorite people.
Talks around the dinner table haven’t shifted from skydiving for the last two weeks. The same goes for my classroom. I was able to tell that student that I skydived, that I faced my fears, and that I’m going to face my fears again very soon. Because the Wisconsin Skydiving Center will be seeing me many more times in the years to come.