A jumping we will go

Well our good friend Tim recently had a birthday.  Deneal, Tim's wife, told me MONTHS ago that she was going to take Tim for a surprise birthday bungee jump since he had never been before.  She suggested I bring Ben, but the worrier in me thought -  "yeah, I don't know that I should fling my new husband off the side of a bridge..."  {If you remember - Deneal, Shannon, Dan and I went bungee jumping over 1 year ago to commemorate mine and Deneal's birthday here and it was AMAZING} so as the days grew closer the excitement of jumping of a bridge grew and I thought this was something I certainly didn't want to miss.  Ben was on board from the beginning.  I would ask every day, "Are you SURE you want to go??" "Are you making this decision all on your own??", he assured me he was - rain or shine, sickness and health he was jumping off that bridge.  Well alright!

Saturday morning the sky poured rain and Ben coughed, sniffled and sneezed -having contracted my latest cold - and I asked one more time, "Are you SURE you want to go?" his answer was most assuredly, yes.  I packed a backpack of our warmest clothes and the entire medicine cabinet and some snacks for the hour drive and we were off to meet our friends.

When we got there the skies had cleared and Deneal, Tim and Travis were already suited up and ready to go.  So Ben, Billy, Cameron and I suited up, weighed in and signed our life into their hands.  We were ready to go!

Walking onto this bridge is a weird feeling - as you look down 500 feet to the ground below {which is a river that was very full this time as opposed to the rock/creek floor from last year}a little bit of panic sets in as you think, "seriously I am jumping into that?" and then there is an eerie calming feeling as you look at the giant bungees attached to the steel frame of the bridge promising to hold 9,000 pounds and think, "it's all in good fun!".

Tim, the birthday boy, was the first to go - it was kind of like he listened to the instructions, climbed over the platform and jumped. There was no thought at all, which is the best way to do it!  

Ben was next. I am not sure who was more nervous, me or him. Probably me. I asked him to repeat all the instructions back to me and then to the jump master.  I know, I am insane, but I can't take any chances here!

 

He suited up and... well, see for yourself....

And then for the second jump, backwards. 

And he is back, safe and sound - I can breathe again!

If you are wondering why we are all wearing helmets, it is not to save our lives.  Travis had this really cool helmet cam that recorded our faces as we fell.  Seeing your face react to the fall is the icing on top of this lovely bungee cake.

Next was Billy. The boys were all so funny - you see, Deneal and I were the only ones who had done this before.  They all knew that and admitted later that even though they were terrified they knew there was no turning back because you can't let a couple of girls be more brave than you! So, they all did what any brave man would do, they jumped right off that bridge. 

Billy 

Travis

Next, Deneal. She was tad nervous the second go round, but after a good pep talk she did what any sane person would do, she turned around and jumped.

Then Cam, who after Deneal's pep talk wasn't sure this jump was as easy as everyone had made it look.

And lastly, me.  This is the problem about bungee jumping being short, you have to use different ropes and get stuck going last.... 

Closing my eyes as I stand on the platform, 3...2...1...

Now, I just have to share the most scariest thing ever about this whole experience... For me, the worst part about bungee jumping is climbing over the railing and standing on the platform.  In my opinion so many things could go wrong in those moments that I want to pee my pants just thinking about that railing.  When you get to the bottom of the jump and stop bouncing around the jump masters send you down a carabiner to attach to your harness and hoist you up.  Now we are wearing this big helmet {see the above picture of me, my head is huge!} so when they send down the carabiner I can't see around the huge thing and attach it to what I THINK is the right harness.  As they are pulling me up I immediately feel like someone is picking me up by a backpack and think, "HOLY CRAP, I attached it to the wrong one!!" As I get to the top, I tell the girl that I am attached by the top, not the bottom, harness in my best trying-to-cover-the-sheer-panic voice.  She says, "Oh." and gets me to mentioned above terrible platform.  At this point she is trying to get the carabiner unattached from the harness so I can crawl back over the death railing, but SHE CAN'T GET IT UNATTACHED.  Every time she tries to get me loose instead it  hoists me up a little more! I really don't need to explain this... but my legs are very SHORT, so I am BARELY touching said death platform. Now, I realize that I am still attached to bungees and should I fall the likelihood of me being just fine are very good.  But here I am, done with my jump thinking, "This is not okay, NOW I am going to die??!"  So I rip the helmet off, because the inability for me to see is NOT helping. Finally, the other jump master comes over and very easily let's me down.  Problem adverted... but as I hung there tippy toeing the platform and thinking off all the ways this could go wrong, I almost swore off bungee jumping. Almost.

Here we are all safe and sound and feeling like we can pretty much do anything now!  Bring it on world!