By: Sierra Lynn
April 12, 2022
Pictured (From Left to Right): Delaney Lynn, Kate Hoffman, Sierra Lynn (me)
As I sat looking out of the window of a Cessna from about 12,000 feet up in the air, the Island of Oahu looked heavenly. The rugged green mountain tops were beautiful from the bird’s eye view, and they were nicely contrasted by the golden beaches that surrounded the perimeter like a halo. However, the crystal blue Pacific Ocean stole the show with its immeasurable vastness.
The only thing missing from that far above was the rhythmic sound of the waves crashing onto the sand. However, the loud propeller created a loud humming noise. It was hard to hear anything else but the thoughts in your head and to watch the silent movie of Oahu in your window. God had done well when He made the Hawaiian Islands, and I felt blessed to call Oahu my home.
It was easy to be at peace with the lulling noise of the propellors and the beautiful views, and yet, my heart pounded out of my chest, the palms of my hands were slick with sweat, and my right leg would not stop shaking. I guess I liked the idea of being on the plane better than the $300 excursion I had just paid for. Throwing myself out of the plane and free-falling towards the serene Oahu landscape tainted the view just a little bit.
My family was stationed in Oahu, Hawaii in June 2021. When the Army tells you to pack up and move, you go. However, before our family moved across the state and an ocean away, we were gifted a book about the top adventures to do in Hawaii. We had currently been living in Dothan, Alabama where the only ocean was a white sea of cotton fields that stretched along Highway 231. While Dothan had been a short distance away from where my twin sister, Delaney, and I were going to college at The University of Alabama, it lacked the outside adventures that my family loved to participate in. Therefore, months in advance of moving to Hawaii, we would curl up on the couch together at night and highlight the adventures we wanted to accomplish while stationed on Oahu. Delaney and I quickly set our minds on the cliché bucket-list idea of skydiving after reading a glowing review from the author. Having turned twenty-one that year, it only made sense that as now legal-drinking adults, we would want to hurl ourselves out of a plane. At least if we died, we went out with a bang by skydiving in Hawaii.
Because only quality stories have three characters, like The Three Musketeers, we decided to include one more person in our daring adventure. So, we did what any thoughtful person would, and we coerced our best friend of seven years to visit us during her winter break. Kate Hoffman, a senior at the University of Georgia, was known for being adventurous, but signing her up for skydiving might have pushed her adventurous limits over the edge. Kate definitely questioned why she was friends with two daredevil lunatics, but a friendship that can last high school and college can surely last a skydiving adventure. This sole thought was the deciding factor in us reserving spots to skydive at Dillingham Airfield.
There were several moments leading up to the eventful morning that should have clued us in on how the excursion was going to go. The first thing that set the precedent for the adventure was that Kate thought Delaney and I were joking about making reservations until we showed her the tickets. At least she had three days to prepare, her mother found out about it the morning of. Rhonda Hoffman was a laid-back mother but having her daughter an ocean away with the idea that she might plummet to her death was not ideal. At least Kate called her one last time.
The drive to the airfield felt like a moment from Alfred Tennyson’s, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The only noise that could be heard was the rattle of the 2008 Tahoe’s suspensions as we drove over the poorly paved roads in Oahu. As soon as we arrived at the airfield, we watched as a rainbow of parachuters landed on the grassy field. It was both a blessing and a curse to see people go before us. From far away they looked like flowers falling off a Cherry Blossom tree that had only bloomed a week earlier. However, when the parachuters’ came into view there were two types of emotions displayed on their faces. They all had wide eyes and tousled hair, but some looked like they had just conquered the world while others appeared to be on the verge of throwing up. The only saving grace that calmed us down enough to sign the waivers and hand over our money, was the Australian Shepherd named Rainy. Although she was just an office worker’s dog, she acted more like an emotional support animal at that moment, and I was forever indebted to the four-legged creature.
Waiting on the tarmac was the hardest part because the anticipation ate at my stomach lining. However, the rest of it was a fast blur of events. I wish I could say that we looked like Goose and Maverick walking to their jet in slow motion with the wind perfectly blowing our hair and “Danger Zone” playing in the background. Instead, we looked like chemistry students who had just found out they had a pop quiz in their lab. Seriously, the clear goggles were not a fashion statement.
The small plane did not instill a lot of confidence that we would survive this ordeal. It did not help that my instructor was a twenty-eight-year-old surfer, and Kate’s instructor didn’t wear shoes. The only normal, professional skydiver was Delaney’s instructor, a seventy-year-old man that had been jumping before we were born. Nevertheless, we strapped our harnesses to them on a tandem line and loaded into the plane. The only instruction we got was to make a banana-like shape with our bodies as we free-fell.
Although the plastic cargo door, rattled with the immense pressure from the wind, the pilot handled the flight well. Before I knew it, I was standing on the edge of the door overlooking Oahu. I was first up, and a million thoughts flooded my brain. What if I had talked my twin sister and best friend into dying? What if the backup parachute did not open? Was I increasing my chances of dying by jumping? Did I even have that kind of power to change my fate? While these thoughts paralyzed me, the simplicity of my brain ultimately allowed me to take the dreaded leap of faith.
From that far above, my brain could not comprehend the depth that lay below. I think it was the fact that I could not comprehend it that allowed me to fall into oblivion. My shrill scream was immediately swept away. An immense amount of pressure filled my head. The wind clawed at every part of my body, angry that we were disrupting its movement. The clear goggles did very little to keep my eyes from not feeling like they were going to fall out. It made it almost impossible to make out anything other than a swirl of green and blue. At the pinnacle of the free fall, I felt like I might just lose consciousness. Luckily just as the feeling overcame me, my instructor pulled the cords, and my prayers were answered. The parachute opened, slowing our fall and giving my body immediate relief.
From then on, the descent was a dream. I felt the metaphor of living slowly to take in the view in full effect. We saw humpback whales migrating south, the famous Diamondhead on the complete opposite side of the island, and to my relief our landing zone. If I could jump again without having to free fall, I would in a heartbeat. The amount of joy I felt while floating to the ground was a sensation that I was not used to. However, it was short-lived as soon as we landed. Although Kate had jumped behind me, she had landed before me. Delaney and I found her smiling through tears. She put on a brave face as she told us that her eardrum had ruptured. To make matters worse on the way back to our house, I had to pull over at a gas station so Delaney could throw up. I was the only one to make it out unscathed.
As soon as we got home, Kate took Ibuprofen, and Delaney fell asleep. Later we would laugh at our naïvely adventurous minds and compare our descents while laughing over the funny pictures. However, as I sat in my living room, with my feet finally on the ground, all I could think about was what our next adventure would be. After all, it was only ten in the morning. Oahu was calling.
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