Kimberly Pallas

Fourteen thousand feet in the air. That’s how high you are. One hundred and twenty miles per hour. That’s how fast you’re falling but you don’t even feel it. Six minutes total. That’s how long you fall for. One minute. That’s how long you free fall for. All you can hear is the roaring of the air as it rushes past you. It’s too hard to breathe but you don’t even realize or you just don’t care. You only focus on all the sights speeding past. Five minutes of floating. Once the parachute is pulled, you can hear again. All is quiet. You remember to breathe again. You take the first minute of floating to take everything in. Everything you see slowly becomes larger as you continue to float toward the ground. The next minute your instructor is asking how you are and is steering you toward the field you are supposed to land on. The fourth minute you ask the instructor if you can steer the parachute. You take control, and the next thing you know, you’re spinning out of control. The fifth minute the instructor takes over steering again and starts giving you instructions on what to do when you land. You worry about not being able to lift your legs high enough off the ground before you land like your instructor told you to do. Unfortunately, the last minute you are in the air has come, and the ground is approaching quickly. You take a few seconds to savor everything you have seen and felt before you land. Next thing you know, you’re standing on solid ground already thinking about skydiving again.