Everybody, Always

ones He loved. He wanted to be a participant. He wanted to be with the
ones He loved. I do too.
After months of taking Adam to the drop zone each weekend, I
decided to blow Adam’s mind. So while he was at work one week, I took
skydiving lessons.
When I dropped Adam off the following week, he got out of the car,
put on his parachute, buckled his straps, and got into the airplane. It was
time for my big reveal, so I got out of the car, threw a parachute over my
shoulders, buckled the straps, and got in the plane too. Adam did a double
take as I sat down next to him.
“Dad, what are you doing?” Adam asked in disbelief.
“How hard could it be?” I shot back with a wink as I adjusted my
helmet.
The plane started its engines, and we rolled down the runway. When
Adam and I were a few miles up in the air, the plane engines slowed a bit,
the pilot turned on a green light to let us know we were over the field, and
we moved to the door. There are plenty of things to do to get ready to
skydive, like pack your parachute, make a will, and say goodbye to loved
ones. Once you get in the door to jump, there are only three things to
remember: up, down, and out. That’s it. You practice this on the ground
several times before you get in the plane. You rock up on your toes to let
the people around you know you’re about to go, you crouch down like
you’re about to jump, and then it’s right out the door.
You exit the plane into a 100 - mph wind and immediately disappear
from view. When Adam got to the door, he yelled, “See you on the
ground!” He rocked up, down, and jumped out. Not surprisingly, Adam
did a backflip as he jumped out the door and disappeared from view. I’m
not really sure what came over me in the moment, but there was a
massive jolt of adrenaline and an overwhelming desire to be with Adam
in the air as he fell.
I sprang to the door, blew off all the up, down, and out stuff, and
threw myself out of the plane with everything I had. I jumped so hard, I