14,000 ft

Eleven people both from Ct and NY made there way to Ellington Ct to take part in an exciting experience of bonding and personal satisfaction. Yesterday I took my first skydive from 14,000 feet. Plosk organized the event. Originally the guest list included him, his muddha, and me. That list grew and shrank many times, but in the end we had eleven companions. My life long friend Lori even joined us for the experience as well as Alice, Quyen, and Jacek to name a few of the jumpers.

Alice and Lori met us at our place in NY and then we drove up- Lori and Gary in a car and Alice and I in a car. Alice and I talked a great deal. She has to been one of the most independent self motivated people I have ever met. We arrived in Ct, ate, watched Battlestar, and then Plosk and I talked for a good long while- the kind of talking and being open with each other that makes our relationship work so well. We had to go to sleep since we were planning on leaving at 6:20 in the morning. At 5 o'clock the alarm went off, I jumped in the shower and we began our drive to the airport.

Once arriving, I still felt no nerves. I had thought that my body would be tense, that I would feel fear but there was none. I believe that to be because of how unreal the idea of jumping from an airplane seemed to me. I had no way to compare it to any other experience, nothing solid to fear, so my mind chose to simply accept I was going to try something new and not fret about it. I was in the 4th jump, after Matt, Alice and Jack. I couldn't have picked a group I would rather have jumped with. Plosk, Muddha, and me got into the plane with our tandem partners and began our ascent. I still felt very little in terms of nerves. But Plosk and I held hands, and kissed while being strapped to our partners. It was unbelievable to be doing this with him. Muddha was getting her dvd done, so we all smiled for the camera and once it was mentioned this was her birthday gift to him, the entire plane broke out in song "Happy Birthday to you." It was a wonderful moment.

My tandem partner Larry was a great coach. He went step by step through the process with me on the ground and again up in the sky. We joked and had a good time, and mostly I just sat and laughed and enjoyed the ride up. At 14,000 feet the plane doors opened and the single jumpers began to disappear. Larry and I scooted forward towards the door and it wasn't long before I saw Muddha disappear in front of me. I put my knees on the floor, and my legs up so I was hanging between Larry's legs (like a pair of extremely large testicles- that was the image in my mind). He has mentioned earlier how much he enjoyed the fact that I weigh next to nothing and how easy that would make the jump for him and me. We got to the door and suddenly I had nothing around me, my face was filled with air, wind and I was plummeting to the earth. I could try and explain it but I'm afraid it's impossible. There is nothing like it. I will say that Larry at one point put my arms flat to my side and bulleted us down at nearly 200 miles an hour. Even Plosk later said he was green with envy because I was able to go so fast. I had nothing to compare it to so for me, it was simply intense. It was astounding, surreal, and bizarre. Our shoot opened at 5,000 feet and I felt a huge jerk to my body. Someone had packed our shoot in such a way that the opening was not a smooth transition. After that we slowly descended down to the landing field where I put my legs in front of me and very lightly skidded to a halt. Insane.

Holy Hell. It was such an odd experience. I can't say love or hate, because it exists beyond any of those feelings. I would do it again, if that says anything, if only to take in more of the atmosphere instead of being so dumbfounded by all the sheer feeling of falling. I am impressed that I felt so little fear. Perhaps because my mind was in such a state of confusion. The human body was not designed to drop 14,000 feet going at times 200 miles an hour and live. It's a shock to the system to say the least.


In any case, Plosk came over to me, kissed me, our gear still on and we walked to the others who had been clapping and cheering us on. We then hung around watching everyone else go.

After the jump, I became extremely tired. We went to a restaurant, hung out with everyone, then split ways and Plosk, Muddha, Lori, Jacek, and I headed back to Prospect to nap, read and relax for a bit. I slept so deeply that when Plosk woke me up I thought it was the following morning. We went to Jacek's and watched a movie, went and had Big Dipper ice cream(yum), went bowling and basically had an amazing day hanging with friends. The bowling was fun and frustrating. Jacek and I had some friendly competition but there was loud rap playing as well as a not so great host who kept screwing up the order of our games. Ah well. Then we went to bed and slept extremely well. I am now back in NY in my apartment feeling good and relaxed and happy I went. Hot damn.

One other thing that I realized this past weekend was something only Lori's presence allowed me to see. I've been going to Prospect for close to 2 years now. I feel so comfortable there, and everyone has accepted me so completely that it feels like another home. She kept saying how cool everyone was and how nice it was up there. I for the first time recognized that I had a whole other life in Ct with people I value a great deal. From Plosk's friends to his family, each person has made a space for me within their group. And it's been that way for a long time now, since before I was ever even "the girlfriend." And since I started out without that title, they all know me as 'Ali' and not their good friends gal. I am a seperate entity.