not a very impressive building

My Dad has wanted to go skydiving for a long time. Recently, he has been talking about it being on his bucket list. I think my Mom was not comfortable with the idea--or he thought she wasn't. In any case, I think he wouldn't have done it if she were still alive. But he looked in the phone book and there was one listing for skydiving and he called them--and paid ahead. I guess that locked in a lower price. It was less than $200.

We scheduled it for a day that Ray could go with us. Dad came for breakfast and we left a little after 8. I drove so Ray could work on preparing for his new class that starts today, on Pterodactyls. We pretty much had to go t hrough Atlanta traffic, some of it very slow, but we were there by 11, when he was scheduled.

I went through this door--does that make me a future skydiver?

video disclaimer--can you bleieve this beard?

At least they have wi-fi while you are waiting

He had to watch a video and sign a waiver. Then we  waited around a bit, in a dumpy sort of metal building. Other people were there too. After about an hour, his name was called and he met his instructor, Ryan. Ryan was covered with tattoos and piercings, but he was very serious about skydiving. He helped Dad get his harness on and adjusted it to fit comfortably. He didn't like the first one and got a second one. Then he got a couple other guys to help him get it just right. We asked him a few questions. He has jumped 7000 times. The heaviest person weighed more than 300; the oldest was 91.

Captain was in Load 2, so after instruction and having this harness put on, he waited while one group went up in the plane and jumped out and came down. A woman annoucned, "Twelve minute warning for load 2," then "five minute warning," then, "meet at the front to walk up to the plane." As we went out to the plane, the first load was landing, so pretty and so fast!

Before he got on the plane, Ryan adjusted his harness again. They were the last ones on, sitting on benches faces backward. That is when I began to get nervous, thinking of when he had been in the hospital. They told him he didn't have enough oxygen in his blood, and had an irregular heartbeat. I am sure if he had asked, his doctor would have said, "no skydiving." But maybe I was projecting, because I would not have wanted to get in that plane.

Ray and I watched it go up until we lost it from sight. About 10 minutes later, we began to see little dots--beautiful parachutes with tiny people hanging below. The next thing we knew they were landing. We heard a whooshing sound and they came in very fast from the side, not staight down at all. The first few were solo and they obviously knew what they were doing. They managed to slow themselves down and ended up walking as they touched down.

All of a sudden, there was my Dad with Ryan. They were coming in really fast... You could see my Dad's legs hanging down below Ryan's. They landed in a pile of dust and it wasn't clear if anyone was hurt. But when I got closer, I could see them pulling my Dad up. He slowly walked toward us, with the harness attached. Ryan passed him and I thanked him and he said, "he did great" or something like that. He was a little sore, but fine. He said he would have a bruise on his butt.

We got in the car and drove to a restaurant I found on my phone nearby, Sidekicks.