rff wrap up: birthday skydiving!

. . . But no, not my birthday skydiving. No skydiving here for this gal, ha . . . Though there was a time I actually wanted to skydive. But that was before the 300 ft monstrosity of "fun" called a skycoaster entered the picture. I willingly put myself on this in Kissimmee, Florida, back in the days of working at Disney in my early 20s.

From what I understand, it still holds the record as the world's tallest skycoaster and records a top speed of 76 mph. "The longest minute and a half of your life." . . . I mean, go big or go home, right?!? (though at the time, it was just my only option, ha)

Me and youngest brother, Pete, on the skycoaster . . . many moons ago

My youngest brother, Peter (true to the little daredevil he's always kind of been), talked me into it. And I will admit, I'm glad to say I did it -- and also glad to say I'm fine to never do it again :)

I honestly felt like I was plunging to my death at one point! And I've learned that I seriously don't like heights. I'm that girl who gets nervous just watching commercials or movies where heights are involved (thank you for nothing, Tom Cruise, in MI: Ghost Protocol, for scaling the world's tallest building in Dubai and making me so nervous -- I watched you on Central Florida's largest IMAX screen and was literally, no joke, breaking a sweat and about to come out of my seat! Seriously. So stressed. ha . . .) 

My hand was up at this point, so while I can't clearly recall, I'm assuming this was when it felt like I was flying, and it actually got fun! And I'm not a "raise my hands on roller coasters" kind of girl, so I'm guessing this stance was also Pete's idea, ha ;) 

So yeah. Heights aren't my thing, but the skycoaster did get kind of fun once the rope was taught, and it felt like we were flying. Surely someone could come up with a skycoaster that's just that flying effect, right?? :)

the skydiving birthday girl  

In stark contrast, my dear friend Ashleigh, LOVES skydiving, and after three years of knowing her, I learned this for the first time this month, when intentionally asking friends about their "birthday standouts." I really am having fun learning new things about my friends, and I hope you guys are enjoying and asking friends these RFF questions from time to time too! 

Ashleigh and I in Baltimore this June during the SBC. In addition to being super fun and fearless, Ashleigh LOVES birthdays! I think she was just as excited for my birthday to roll around as I was--which is saying a lot! ha ;) 

Ashleigh is hands-down, one of the most vibrant, life-loving, and fearless people I've ever met. I don't think she ever meets a stranger. We both went to school at University of Mobile, but my last year working there was her first year as a student. So we didn't know each other very well. Our professional paths crossed years later when we were both at the same (SBC) convention in Phoenix in 2011. We grabbed dinner while there and were fast friends from that point on. I even got to design her wedding suite last fall! (More to come on that later! )

I loved hearing about her trying something new and even a little (lot) scary. I think it's often encouraging to hear how other people process and "do" life; it often inspires me to do more/make more of my days. In light of that, I hope you'll also enjoy reading this birthday standout story from Ashleigh, in her own words! 

turning 21

"Everyone always makes a big deal about their 21st birthday. It's when people say you are "officially" an "adult" and it's one of those they usually look forward to. I always thought it to be a big milestone as well, and when it came time to think about how I wanted to celebrate, nothing seemed quite "big" enough. I wanted to do something out of the ordinary and memorable. My birthday is in February, and I was going to graduate from UM in May, so this was also my last "college" birthday . . . another reason to celebrate big. The real world was next. (This was before I realized you can still have fun after college.)   

I'm scared of heights and have never considered myself an adrenaline junkie. I didn't ride an upside down roller coaster until I was a senior in high school. (Not from lack of opportunity--my family went to Six Flags quite a bit.) But I always played things safe. I have actually said the words "I will never skydive" many times.

the epiphany

I remember waking up on the morning of my 21st birthday thinking, "I can go skydiving . . . ." Nothing else I thought of seemed big enough or out of the ordinary enough. So I texted a close friend that morning and asked if he'd be willing to go skydiving with me to celebrate my birthday. He said yes, and I googled where to go and made a reservation before I could chicken out.  

We went skydiving somewhere in Mississippi not too far from Mobile. Our drive was the longest drive of my life! I was terrified. When we got there, we signed our life away (literally) and then put on our jump suits. We had a brief training session and then boarded what seemed like the world's smallest airplane. The front of the plane was filled with professional skydivers who would jump in groups and do tricks. I have to admit, it was pretty neat watching them jump.

We were at the back because we were diving tandem. I never ever though we would reach our jump altitude of 14,500 feet. I was so nervous, but before getting on the plane, I told my instructor that no matter what I said in the plane, he needed to make me jump and have fun.

my turn!

When it was my turn, I crawled to the edge of the plane, got one good look, and shut my eyes super tight! (I was supposed to turn and smile at the camera guy who was going to jump with us -- that didn't happen.) We left the plane in style -- doing flips!

As soon as we left the plane, I was having a blast! I opened my eyes and enjoyed watching the view! We were free-falling for a little over 1 minute and then they pulled out the parachute, which happened to be pink -- my favorite color! We glided down for 8 minutes, doing tricks along the way, of course. We did flips and twirls, and I screamed like a little kid the whole way down!  

I don't know how to wrap it up except to say it was one of the greatest experiences in life!  I went again a few months later and would go again in a heart beat. I hope to go with Mark (my husband) one day, but he refuses to even entertain the idea" :)

in summary

What's your birthday standout story? And for the record--it doesn't have to be full of thrills or incredibly detailed like Courtney's Birmingham Birthday Adventure I shared about last week. It just needs to stand out to YOU. One of my personal favorite birthdays was a small-ish in-home "13 going on 30" party with some of the most special people in my life there to celebrate the beginning of a new decade with. I'll never have all of those people in the same room again, and I cherish that memory and am thankful for those who pulled it together for me!

If there's currently not a stand out, but you want there to be one, then I hope you'll take a 21 year-old birthday cue from Ashleigh and maybe just wake up and do it, whatever "it" is! :) Make life about life!