Need a Personal Narrative Essay

Student Name

Elizabeth Meehan

English 101

Prof. Lisa E. Munoz

13 February 2014

Bucket List

What am I going to say when it happens? What will be the first – and maybe only – word out of my mouth when it happens? Skydiving has been on my “bucket list” for many years. Now Chuck, a dear friend whom I met through The Reader fifteen years ago and a bit of a church-going daredevil, was inviting me to go as a birthday present. In addition, it would be an accomplishment for me for a notable year – one that ended in a zero. My bucket list would soon have another checkmark on it, but the check proved to be lackluster.

Despite our best laid plans, it took three tries – and two months – to finally pick a glorious day where the weather was in our favor. The previous two attempts were foiled either by strong winds or fog causing us to reschedule. Now it was May, which is notorious for foggy mornings in San Diego. I had arrived at Chuck’s home for the third time to help facilitate our being on time. He has a well-established history of being notoriously late for everything in addition to being a night owl. For our third journey, we elected to drive using the interstate versus the back roads as this was the faster method. Having arrived at the airstrip, we quickly located Susan, whom he already knew, and Rocky, her friend, who, while waiting for us, were spying the weather conditions. Although there was fog, it did seemappeared to be burning off quickly and this was conferred by the front desk.

On our first trip to the field, we had signed the release-of-liability forms and this was no ordinary paperwork that we needed to complete! I had never seen more documents that I needed to sign and date – just to jump out of an airplane. Each document that I read, in detail, was yet another legally-binding document confirming my understanding that the company was in no way liable for any injury – or death – that might occur. In addition, not only could I not sue them for any incident, neither could any of my relatives nor my estate sue the company. If this were not enough, each jumper had to watch, in addition, a 15fifteen-minute video that provided more information – facts, figures, statistics – about the safety of the process but also the potential harm that could occur as well as signing yet another legally-binding document. At this point, I have already paid, sworn that I had not consumed alcohol within the past twelve hours, and signed my life away in no uncertain terms. If I – or anyone else – was unsure at that point, this would have had them heading for the door. However, no one in our group blinked an eye even though everyone had read all of the details with amazing accuracy. None of this even fazed me. I was determined that this was on my bucket list and was going through with the skydiving.

Although we were scheduled to be at the field again at 8:00 AM, it was not until 9:30 that we were being called to put on our jumpsuit. This was an item that we picked off circular hanging rack holding suits in varying lengths and sizes that was rolled out onto the hard dirt. We were left to ourselves to “eyeball” the appropriate suit. We were paired with our tandem for the jump and mine was a young woman of similar build in her 20’s. Helmets were not provided although some of the experienced jumpers were wearing them. I did a little soul-searching about not having a helmet as I used to work for O.S.H.A., an organization based on safety, and rightly or wrongly dismissed my hesitation. Succumbing to the “herd” mentality, I deferred to the professionals and accepted that others were going to jump without helmets. With some downtime after having donned our ill-fitting jumpsuits and harnesses, which only exacerbated the suits’ poor fit, we were then given notice to head for the plane. “It was finally happening!” I thought, as we walked through the fence and onto the grassy field, that doubled as the airstrip,field, which doubled as the airstrip, to the plane alongside our tandem partners. The deafening drone of the engines caused us all to become quiet as we climbed, one by one, up the three steps of the tiny removable ladder and entered the plane.

The interior of the plane was spartan, with two long aluminum benches – one down each side of the fuselage – for all fifteen jumpers. We were packed in like sardines, wearing jumpsuits and harnesses, and our tandems also had their parachutes on their backs plus helmets. Just by looking around the plane, I could almost pick out the neophytes by the expressions on their faces. I wondered if I also looked as anxious and unsure about what I was on the verge of doing. We sat next to our tandem partners without much conversation due to the sheer roar of the engines. The tandems took a few short sentences to remind us of how they would hook to our harnesses, how we would leave the aircraft, and then the conversation throughout the plane seemed to cease except to request the little sealed, brown envelopes that contained their tips. We were all looking out the windows at the world beyond. I could feel the tension mounting among the new skydivers in the plane as opposed to our tandem partners who appeared to treat this just like any other day, which it was for them as they racked up yet another jump.

The first jumper was solo as he had the camera for those who had paid to have their jump filmed, followed by each successive team – after having been connected to their partner’s harness and parachute. Susan and Rocky each jumped with their partners, two by two, ahead of me and then it was my turn. I had told my tandem that I wanted to roll out backwards, doing a summersault, for my exit. That did not happen, but we had a clean exit and then were airborne!!! Although the airplane engines had been very loud, there was now the rush of the air whipping past my ears. My tandem got us quickly stabilized and then began guiding us into tight, small circles. I am not prone to being motion sick, but this was not fun for me, and I requested that we stop. Again, we quickly stabilized as she began pointing out various landmarks: Mexico, downtown San Diego, the Coronado Islands and more. Everything was happening so quickly and yet I still noticed that the tips of my ears were freezing! I wished now that I had a helmet, not just for the safety but for the protection from the air. All too quickly, the green grass airstrip was coming into focus, and within seconds my tandem was reminding me to lift my legs out straight in front of me for the landing. As I was touching my bottom on the ground, I could see others around me in various stages of returning to terra firma. Some had landed in front of me and were gathering in the parachute, others had just landed pulling their legs under them to stand up, and Chuck, being one of the last to jump, was still in descent. We all landed very near the opening in the fence with only a short walk back to the office.

The tandems, once on the ground, were telling all of the new jumpers what a great job we had done. We had just completed our first jump from an airplane! This felt a little more like a sales pitch – they were always trolling for new skydivers – versus a sincere interest but everything had been successful, so what did I care.? All four of us had been skydiving and had a great time! Or did I? Without wishing to rain on anyone’s parade or appear to be ungrateful for my gift, there was a small sense of disappointment on my part that I was not willing to share. Everything was over – fini – so quickly. We peeled off our harnesses and jumpsuits hurriedly, all the while making plans for where to go next, and within minutes were in our vehicles, headed for Sunday brunch to celebrate.

By the time that we sat down for brunch, more than an hour had elapsed allowing our bodies and legs to feel more normal. Evidently I was n’ot the only one who had the sensation of “sea legs” after landing. It did not last long and no doubt attributable to the excitement as well as the jump. As Chuck, Susan, Rocky, and I sat around the table, already having ordered our food, we began to discuss the experience. My question was the same to everyone, “Would you do it again?” Rocky was the first one to speak up. He was not interested in going again, which surprised me. After all, he is a professional race car driver, and I thought that he would be snared by the “rush” of the event. Susan, an avid traveler and certified scuba diver, also did not want to go again. She had a great time, took lots of pictures on the ground prior to the jump, but just did not want to go again. I already knew prior to getting involved that this would be a one-time thing for me, although several of my friends had predicted otherwise. And Chuck, who has travelled the world solo, said that he would not do it again and confessed to almost not even jumping. He was in the airplane and became overcome with anxiety. It was all he could do to get himself out of the plane! I had no idea as I had always seen him as a person ready for almost anything including traveling the globe solo. As for me, I had envisioned a long, soaring ten-minute flight that allowed me to drink in the views leisurely. Instead, the whole thing felt as if it was over almost as quickly as it had begun – minus the two false starts.

As I sat at the brunch table, talking about the jump, I felt as if all four of us had four different experiences with no two being anything alike! Yes, all of our hearts had raced, and we claimed to have enjoyed the experience, with Chuck still debating this, but the comments made me wonder if we had all performed the same death-defying feat.

Skydiving had been on my bucket list for many years, with the end result leaving me nonplussed. Now I am questioning other items on my list and rethinking their significance. Are items that I place on my bucket list as important as I think – or have I succumbed to the “herd” mentality to think that I need to have a bucket list?