There are certain moments in life that people never forget. A wedding day. The birth of a child. Hitting a hole in one. Landing your first big fish. Apparently, skydiving isn't one of those moments for me.
A while back, I decided it was time to cross something huge off my bucket list. I signed up for a tandem skydive, filled out what felt like a hundred waivers, and tried to convince myself that voluntarily jumping out of a perfectly good airplane was a perfectly reasonable idea.
As the day got closer, my excitement and anxiety seemed to take turns. One minute I was imagining the incredible views and feeling of freedom. The next, I was wondering if it was too late to suddenly become "busy."
Before I knew it, I was strapped to an instructor, climbing higher and higher into the sky. Looking out the airplane window, everything below looked like a toy town. Roads turned into tiny lines. Cars looked like ants. Even though I was nervous, I remember thinking, "This is going to be amazing."
And then...
Nothing.
Seriously.
I don't remember the jump.
I don't remember standing in the airplane doorway.
I don't remember leaving the plane.
I don't remember the freefall.
I don't remember the parachute opening.
It's as if someone edited the most exciting five minutes out of the movie of my life.
The next clear memory I have is standing on the ground with my helmet off while people were asking me, "So... how was it?"
I honestly had no idea.
Then my eyes opened. For a brief moment, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to piece everything together. My first thought was about something that had happened in the dream.
Then it hit me. None of it had happened!
The plans? Fake.
The excitement? Fake.
It was one of the strangest feelings I've experienced. My emotions were real, but the events that caused them were completely made up by my own mind. It's amazing how powerful our brains can be while we sleep. They can create people, places, conversations, and entire storylines that feel just as authentic as our waking lives. For a little while, the line between reality and imagination completely disappears.
Now I'm left with one question. Do I leave skydiving in my dreams...
Or is it finally time to experience the real thing?
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