Adrenaline…

This is a story about one of my most favorite moments of 2020: the time I jumped from a plane at 9,000 feet. What was supposed to be a simple trip to Montreal with my brother and friends turned into a complete adventure.

We decided to drive to Montreal for the weekend, a city that we had all been to but never fully visited. A few days before the trip, my good friend Alain briefly mentioned that while in Montreal, he would want to go skydiving. Not really knowing how serious he was, I agreed to join him.

Oh! Alain was very serious about this. So when we arrived to our amazing hostess’s home (shoutout to Patate), we started looking for skydiving places and that’s when it started feeling real to me. You know when specifically? When I started reading about the disclosure and terms & conditions on the website that mentioned that you can literally die while skydiving. MAMA MIA! Not for one second Alain looked scared! Thinking back to that, that was definitely what encouraged me to do it too.

I remember being very excited the day of until…it was our turn to board the small plane. We had two options at two different prices. Two similar packages except option 1 meant: jumping at 13,500 feet (a free fall of about 1 minute) and option 2: jumping at 9,000 feet (a free fall of about 20 seconds). A girl loves her life, so OF COURSE I went with option 2. Tell me how…when boarding the plane, my instructor (the person you get attached to for jumping) tells me we’re going to jump first. Ngo Ngwiki?

On the plane: I start panicking. For real! By that time, people had already told me that my outfit was the biggest mistake of all (listen… I thought we were going to wear those skydiving suits, smh!) and now all I can think of is how I’m going to lose my shirt somewhere in the air! Mana Mfasha! And… WE JUMPED!

I am literally out of words here because nothing can describe what I felt in that moment. It was a mix of feelings: terrified, confused, and all the other feelings in between. What felt like an eternity later, we finally landed (on the butt, the instructor had suggested). Other that feeling sick, I remember feeling like a bad ass…like ain’t nobody gonna play with me no more! I jumped from the sky, okay? Who here has done that before? ME!

Looking back at this adventure, it was the most adrenaline-filled moment I’ve ever experienced. Would I do it again? Most definitely yes! But I would dress differently for sure (yeah…my shorts got ripped but my shirt stayed on me!). Skydiving – and the adrenaline that comes with it- , is something I truly believe we all should experience at least once in our lifetime.

What do you think? would you do it after reading this?

‘Til Next Time,

-Dee-