In March after a slight delay, I made the journey to South Carolina to visit my good friend Sam. A 10-day trip turned into a long weekend, but it was still a good time. Not only did I get to go to the beach, but I also won a spider ring, what more can a girl ask for? Trip one out of three - check. A month or so later my mother, her boyfriend, one of my sister's best friends, and myself loaded up into my mom's tiny car and made the journey down to Newnan, Georgia to visit none other than my sister herself. Since she wasn't going to be in the country for her birthday, we celebrated her American Birthday. We had frozen yogurt, got pedicures, and ate some delicious South African food. AND my sister and I didn't even fight a single time! I'm calling it a complete success. Trip two out of three - check. For my third (and hopefully not final) trip, I plan on travelling to the magically land of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Where I plan on buying some cheese, celebrating the nuptials of Kelsey (my college roommate) and Garret, and watching the Cardinals kick some Brewers tail. So as of July 13, I should be able to mark another resolution off the list.
On the fair day of May 11, I accomplished two separate resolutions. The first of which, and possibly the most important, was: I got a year older. Yes, even though I claimed the entire month of May as my birthday, the resolution wasn't actually achieved until the day I was born. I turned twenty-four and couldn't think of a better way to celebrate it than by gathering up three of my closest friends and jumping out of plane. Which brings me to my next achieved goal: do something dangerous.
Skydiving was spectacular. Stephen, Dewalin, and Deric all accompanied me on this little adventure, and not one of us regretted it. Stephen took his first ever plane ride, before exiting it at 12,000 ft with some dude and a parachute strapped to his back. Dewalin had done it before and was the least nervous. Deric faced his fear of heights, even though he said it didn't really count since it was just "stupid high". And I screamed like a banshee as I lost contact with the plane. In my defense, I had just watched one of my best friends fall out of said plane just moments before.
Here is a picture of all of us before anyone had jumped. I'm wearing what Dewalin dubbed my "Amelia Earhart Special Needs Helmet" and my "Reese's Pieces" flight suit.
Two of us got to go up in the plane at once. First up it was Deric and myself. Watching him jump was probably the worst part for me. None of the others got pictures, but Deric got to make an appearance in quite a few of mine.
This is how high up we were right before I jumped out... I don't think it's so unfathomable that I screamed as soon as I became completely airborne.
Here's free-falling with Jaco, my instructor. Dewalin became best friends with this guy when they jumped together.
I seriously couldn't be more glad I went. And I'm even happier my dear sweet mother not only talked me into, but also provided the funds to buy, the pictures/video. It was definitely a birthday I'll never forget. Side note - before leaving home for Taylorville, I did write my mom an "in case I die" letter. I may have been silly enough to jump out of a plane, but at least I was prepared for the worst.
Now, I suppose it's time to fess up. I failed at the school related resolution. I'm not going to expand on it, however, just that it was pretty well thought out, and I still stand by my decision.
So far I've done good with my new and improved writing resolution (replacing number 9 on the original list, for anyone keeping track). On the 7th, I wrote my Ode To Ray Bradbury. The 8th I wrote a journal entry (which may or may not make it to the blog sometime). The 9th I wrote this blog (though, it's not getting published until the 10th, after I have time to edit it). I'm hoping to do some fiction for tomorrow(the 10th)'s bit of writing, after all that's what resolution 9 has always been about.
I counted my resolutions and I have 16 left. Five of which are ongoing and can't be finished until the end of the year. That's just 11 more. I think the next one I'm going to try for is number 10 - Ride an Elephant.
-Shan Out
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