A Present with Altitude

A Present with Altitude 2

As I rose out of bed, the warm fall sun greeted me early. September third was finally here... I was finally 18. I slipped on my clothes for the day and turned for the door. The door suddenly swung open revealing my best friend Mat.

"Good morning, happy birthday!" He greeted me.

"Uh, thanks man" I said back. His hand came out of his pocket exposing a piece of paper.

"We're going skydiving!" Mat said back. I froze with surprise, but I knew he wasn't kidding.

Before I knew it, I was in a car heading to Lebanon, NH. After driving for an hour, a sign emerged from the ground notifying us that we had arrived at Sky Dive New England. A roar erupted overhead as a plane flew by. As we found a parking spot I kept my eyes fixed on the plane as it climbed higher and higher into the clouds. Tiny dots then fell from the sky, and 15 seconds later colorful chutes emerged from each one. Their appearance as people became more apparent as they glided into the fields, safely on foot again. Then, Mat's voice kicked me out of my dream state.

"Let's go register," he said. I followed him into the office. Moments later, we were registered and ready to go skydiving. I was also assigned a camera man to record my dive. The weather was brisk, but relatively warm. The thick clouds that swirled overhead concerned the instructors. As we waited for our jump group to be called, we explored the camp area. The lawn was littered with couches and fire pits. Late night

A Present with Altitude 3

parties were apparent with evidence of food and beer. The area was clearly the home to a distinctive group of people bent on flying and having fun.

Time passed slowly as we were forced to wait longer than necessary do to the dangerous visibility the clouds were providing. However, we gazed at the sky and awed at those who fell from the sky. Some would come down and glide across a lake before coming to a stop. Everyone landing had a face lit up from excitement and adrenaline.

Every second turned into an hour as we proceeded to wait. Finally a voice was heard over the loud speaker.

"Group 5 - your jump has been delayed due to weather conditions. We can issue refunds or you can continue to wait for the weather to clear."

"Great" I said to myself. "I'm not going to be able to jump..."

We decided to stick around anyways, and get to the training session. We walked into a room with a TV and watched a movie informing us on how to jump. Jumping with someone was quite simple. They covered what to wear, how to sit in the plane, positions to fall in, and emergency procedures. It seemed pretty easy for free falling.

We stepped outside and immediately noticed a drastic change in the weather. The sky appeared to open up tremendously, but only in a very specific area. This was our chance and the instructors knew it.

We were finally called to go, so we found the hanger to get ready in. There were racks of suits, and we were instructed to put one on. We were all given goggles, and said our final words. A rickety old pickup truck, stripped of its insides, pulled up to us. We

A Present with Altitude 4

all jumped into the joke of a vehicle and sped towards the runway. There, the small 10-passenger plane rolled to a stop and opened its door. Suddenly I got a rush of excitement to my head as I realized the reality of what I was about to do. I forced my legs to move up the steps and into the plane. I hung myself forward to inch myself down the plane. I sat down on the bench in front of my diving instructor.

As the engines of the plane roared