Skydiving-- Celebrity Post by Maria Mastracchio

Okay, today is the day. Just breathe. It’s July 3^rd, 2011 the day before my 21^st birthday and I wake up to my mom throwing Oliver, my almost one year old black and white cat, on my bed. “You ready for today?” she said with excitement filled throughout her voice.

Oh, God. Am I ready for today?

In T-minus 4 hours I will be jumping out of an airplane from 10,560 feet. Who on earth talked my into this?

An hour later we’re in the car and begin the two hour car ride down to San Marcos, Texas where our final destination is “Skydive San Marcos.” These are a long two hour and an emotional roller coaster to say the least.

I can do this! I am going to do this! In 1 hour and 45 minutes I will be jumping out of a plane. I am so cool. My life has been so blessed and I am so lucky to have a Mom like mine. Dear Lord, please keep my Mom and I in your sight today and help us make it safely back to the ground….What if we don’t make it back to the ground?  I want Tori to have my frog stuffed animal. I want Katie to have first pick at my clothes then everyone else can join in. Everyone needs to know how much I love them. Wait, I didn’t write this down anywhere. How are people going to know how much I care about them if I don’t make it back? Breathe, breathe again, keep breathing. I can do this!

My two hours are up. I see a plane crashed engine first on the ground. Then a sign, “There is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane. LEARN TO SKYDIVE!” Then another sign “1-800 Skydive, Skydive San Marcos.”  

We pull into the parking lot and I wish I could have stomached more than just a banana this morning. I’m hungry but nervous and my stomach is spinning and knotting every chance it gets. There are tons of cars here, I wonder how many of these are instructors and how many are students. Is this something that a lot of people do often? My stomach slowly begins to unwind as we walk into the building and head to the front desk. We read through paper work, sign and initial a few times giving up every right we have to sue them if anything unexpected happens.

 “Maria and JoeAnna Mastracchio? Right this way please.” We are in a room, lined with equipment for skydiving. Suits, chutes, harnesses and a couple of other people who I assume are heading up in the same plane as us. This man with black and yellow camouflage pants, a blonde beard like Lionitius and a huge grin walks up to me. “Hi Maria, my name is Smiley, I’ll be your instructor and tandem jumper today.” Even though this man reeks of smoke and looks insane, I’m put at ease and the nervous feelings that have been building up are overpowered by my itch for adventure.

Smiley instructs me into a neon green jumper suit, puts on my harness and walks me through the process for the first time. It’s more request than I expected there to be but I listened intently until “We’re squatting at the door of the plane, I want your chin up and I’ll start swaying you. Swaying is the sign of the countdown, one…two...three… then we’ll jump!”

I can’t believe I’m doing this, jumping out of a perfectly good plane, how stupid! We’re instructed to keep ourselves busy until the plane arrives. We wait for our names to be called watching videos of people who had gone earlier that day. Instantly my fear dissolves and my adventuring spirit takes over. I was ready, let’s do this. Why are they making us wait so long?

 All of a sudden a video camera is in my face, “Hey Maria, so what’s going on today?” says Nick who was shortly after introduced as my camera man. I am taken off guard and nervously reply, “Uhhh, I’m skydiving…” We have a short interview on the ground then we’re heading back to the room with all the equipment. Smiley shortly takes me through the in flight process again. We’re walking outside, random employees keep making jokes about how many people Smiley has lost. He mentions if I get detached to remember that he is the one with the parachute and I need to make my way back to him. Ha. Ha. Ha. None of their ploys were working. I am ready, no longer nervous, no longer scared. Just excited and ready.

We duck into the plane and slide back on a bench, Smiley begins connecting our two harnesses while shooting off an endless amount of ridiculous jokes.

“What does a fish say when it hits a wall?....Dam”
“What’s the hardest thing about skydiving?....the ground”
“How does a blind skydiver know he’s close to the ground?... the leash goes limp.”

These continued and then all of a sudden I look out the window and we are in the air. When did that happen? We climb in altitude for about 20 minutes until we are 2 miles up. Nick shines the camera once more in my face for a pre jump interview. I watch one jumper go. Then another. Then a camera man. Then my Mom. It’s my turn. We waddle to the back of the plane attached by the harnesses. Squatting once we reach the edge we face the front of the plane so half my body is inside and half my body is outside. I tilt my head up and arch my back. One sway...two sway…three sway! 

We’re out, free falling heading straight to the ground. The wind is so loud but it doesn’t stop me from screaming at the top of my lungs. Nick comes into view and Smiley grabs onto his feet. The three of us are falling and falling and falling. I can’t stop smiling. Immediately I think no wonder this guy’s name is Smiley, he gets to do this anywhere from 15-20 times a day. We’re falling for about 30-60 seconds. Smiley taps my shoulder and crosses his fingers in hope that our chute will open. I realize instantly that we cannot fall forever and try to enjoy the last few seconds. With a few loud forceful sounds from the chute breaking free from its tiny pack and my body twisting in ways I never thought it could, the wind stops.

We’re sitting in the air looking over central Texas on a beautiful cloud free day, slowly making our way to the ground. Smiley shows me how to maneuver the parachute and all of a sudden we are turning left. Then right. Facing up and facing down. “Do you want to spin?” he asked me to which I responded “Hell yes!” All of a sudden we’re moving in circles like a tornado and I can’t get enough. We straighten out and then we go again. Smiley instructs me on what to do during landing and then says he has one last thing to tell me. Instantly I think it’s some sort of pun about landing, or how he has never landed correctly. He surprises me when he says “Now you can understand why the birds sing” and I did.

We land and Nick rushes up to me getting my final reaction caught on tape.

“So you just jumped out of a plane two miles high, how do you feel?”

“Like I could do it again right now!”

“It’s addicting isn’t it?”

“Completely.” 

We all exchange a few hugs and thanks, my smile still plastered on my face. We made it, we are alive and I can’t wait to do it again. Now.

Thank you Mom for the amazing birthday present and thanks to Skydive San Marcos for really putting me at ease and helping me enjoy and get the most out of my experience.

If anybody is interested you can call them at 1-800-SKYDIVE or visit their website www.skydivesanmarcos.com

**Thank you Mia being brave enough to skydive and to share your adventure.**