Free Falling 7/20/09
9:10 AM
In Jessica’s Words
I suspected that Lauren really wanted to jump, or at least that she thought she did. And one of the most important things to me is not letting down kids. Plus, I was remembering 20 year old Jessica and how she would have jumped without much thought. Where did that girl go?
Here are thoughts that kept going through my head (not sure if everyone else had these thoughts): 1) This is perhaps the safest of the risky things we’ve done on this trip. 2) You have done this before. Why can’t you do it again? 3) What if we drive away, and I’m still dry because I never jumped? 4) I love the feeling of free falling 5) But the strongest of all- you do not jump off cliffs. Everything in my being was telling me this.
At one point Beth and I decided to jump together. The plan was to run and jump. I realized what a great feeling it would be to run and just leap out into the air. How freeing. But as soon as I got to the edge, the breaks were involuntarily applied. I think I made an audible screech. And then I saw Beth. She’d done it. She sailed through the air beautifully and glided into the water. At the moment she surfaced, I knew I was the worst friend ever. She’d probably break up with me. And I also knew that I had to do it now.
Sarah was a real riot. She has shown such little regard for staying on the safe side in the adventure department but she was so hesitant about jumping. What a mystery. But she did it. I don’t know what nudged her, but it was beautiful. I love that the jump is long enough that you have time to process what’s going on. It was wild to think about Sarah and Beth just falling through the air.
It’s hard to write about what happened between Sarah’s jump and mine. It’s just a mess of the previously mentioned thoughts. I know I stood at the edge, and for a reason I don’t know, I stepped off with one foot and then fell through the air. It was pretty amazing for a second. My eyes were closed for most of the fall, so I was pretty disoriented and didn’t know when I would hit. As soon as I hit the water, I knew Sarah had lied to me about it not hurting. What a good friend. I would have been more hesitant if I had known that my ass was basically about to be ripped apart.
Lauren was left. We did what needed to be done. We told her it didn’t hurt at all (not true) and that she would be fine (completely true). She jumped pretty quickly. She looked awesome. I loved the view from the ocean. We all swam toward each other to celebrate. Sarah and I apologized heartily for lying to her.
We fought with the ladder for awhile, and I realized that Beth is pretty scrappy for having made it up so quickly. We gave up when a local told us to swim around the rock cliff. We did, and with the help of Beth’s flashlight we climbed out easily.
Reuben called his daughter a Rock Star. He was genuinely proud and thrilled. I wish all 13 year old girls had affirmation from their dads like that.
Pretty scary, pretty fulfilling. Glad to have shared it with inspiring new friends.
In My Words
Holy cow that was the scariest thing ever! Every part of me was willing Jessica not to make the “lets do it” decision. But then she uttered those words and power walked to the car for our towels. She was determined. It was on, and I was afraid. I had experienced cliff jumping before in college, and hated it, but I tend to let peer pressure get the best of me, and so I slowly followed her, all the while muttering, “I don’t want to do this.” My legs were shaking as I stripped down to my bathing suit, and did the dooms day walk to the edge.
In every other situation on this trip, I’ve been scolded for getting too close to the edge of crazy cliffs like the one I found myself standing on that evening. Now I was suppose to tell myself, “go ahead and hurl your body off that cliff into the Pacific it’s totally ok” The battle in my head was so intense. I knew I had to jump (there was no way the others were having this adventure without me). I was actually kind of annoyed with myself for being such a pansy about it. Although I guess it showed that I still had some sort of common sense left…..YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSE TO JUMP OFF OF CLIFFS! Well, I’m not sure how I ended up in the air, but it happened. I vaguely remember yelling geronimo, and then all breath left me, my heart jumped into my throat…I was free falling. The impact was harder than I had imagined…my neck, chin, and ears took the brunt of it….then came the rush of saltwater…violently invading every opening….ears, nose, mouth…It wasn’t the most pleasant experience of my life, that’s for sure…but I’m so glad I was able to do it. It was also fun getting to watch Jessica butt smack, and Lauren’s look of “oh my goodness!” as she surfaced was priceless. J Thanks Jessica for picking this adventure…I suppose it’s payback for all the other crazy stuff I got you into….what an experience!….but let’s not repeat it ok? J
I suspected that Lauren really wanted to jump, or at least that she thought she did. And one of the most important things to me is not letting down kids. Plus, I was remembering 20 year old Jessica and how she would have jumped without much thought. Where did that girl go?
Here are thoughts that kept going through my head (not sure if everyone else had these thoughts): 1) This is perhaps the safest of the risky things we’ve done on this trip. 2) You have done this before. Why can’t you do it again? 3) What if we drive away, and I’m still dry because I never jumped? 4) I love the feeling of free falling 5) But the strongest of all- you do not jump off cliffs. Everything in my being was telling me this.
At one point Beth and I decided to jump together. The plan was to run and jump. I realized what a great feeling it would be to run and just leap out into the air. How freeing. But as soon as I got to the edge, the breaks were involuntarily applied. I think I made an audible screech. And then I saw Beth. She’d done it. She sailed through the air beautifully and glided into the water. At the moment she surfaced, I knew I was the worst friend ever. She’d probably break up with me. And I also knew that I had to do it now.
Sarah was a real riot. She has shown such little regard for staying on the safe side in the adventure department but she was so hesitant about jumping. What a mystery. But she did it. I don’t know what nudged her, but it was beautiful. I love that the jump is long enough that you have time to process what’s going on. It was wild to think about Sarah and Beth just falling through the air.
It’s hard to write about what happened between Sarah’s jump and mine. It’s just a mess of the previously mentioned thoughts. I know I stood at the edge, and for a reason I don’t know, I stepped off with one foot and then fell through the air. It was pretty amazing for a second. My eyes were closed for most of the fall, so I was pretty disoriented and didn’t know when I would hit. As soon as I hit the water, I knew Sarah had lied to me about it not hurting. What a good friend. I would have been more hesitant if I had known that my ass was basically about to be ripped apart.
Lauren was left. We did what needed to be done. We told her it didn’t hurt at all (not true) and that she would be fine (completely true). She jumped pretty quickly. She looked awesome. I loved the view from the ocean. We all swam toward each other to celebrate. Sarah and I apologized heartily for lying to her.
We fought with the ladder for awhile, and I realized that Beth is pretty scrappy for having made it up so quickly. We gave up when a local told us to swim around the rock cliff. We did, and with the help of Beth’s flashlight we climbed out easily.
Reuben called his daughter a Rock Star. He was genuinely proud and thrilled. I wish all 13 year old girls had affirmation from their dads like that.
Pretty scary, pretty fulfilling. Glad to have shared it with inspiring new friends.
In My Words
Holy cow that was the scariest thing ever! Every part of me was willing Jessica not to make the “lets do it” decision. But then she uttered those words and power walked to the car for our towels. She was determined. It was on, and I was afraid. I had experienced cliff jumping before in college, and hated it, but I tend to let peer pressure get the best of me, and so I slowly followed her, all the while muttering, “I don’t want to do this.” My legs were shaking as I stripped down to my bathing suit, and did the dooms day walk to the edge.
In every other situation on this trip, I’ve been scolded for getting too close to the edge of crazy cliffs like the one I found myself standing on that evening. Now I was suppose to tell myself, “go ahead and hurl your body off that cliff into the Pacific it’s totally ok” The battle in my head was so intense. I knew I had to jump (there was no way the others were having this adventure without me). I was actually kind of annoyed with myself for being such a pansy about it. Although I guess it showed that I still had some sort of common sense left…..YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSE TO JUMP OFF OF CLIFFS! Well, I’m not sure how I ended up in the air, but it happened. I vaguely remember yelling geronimo, and then all breath left me, my heart jumped into my throat…I was free falling. The impact was harder than I had imagined…my neck, chin, and ears took the brunt of it….then came the rush of saltwater…violently invading every opening….ears, nose, mouth…It wasn’t the most pleasant experience of my life, that’s for sure…but I’m so glad I was able to do it. It was also fun getting to watch Jessica butt smack, and Lauren’s look of “oh my goodness!” as she surfaced was priceless. J Thanks Jessica for picking this adventure…I suppose it’s payback for all the other crazy stuff I got you into….what an experience!….but let’s not repeat it ok? J
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