Celebrating the Future and the Past
I was getting some photos together for my son’s visit from back east, and for my other son’s wedding. I have boxes of stored photos in special paper, which turned out to be somewhat of a miracle. The house burned down less than 6 months later, and all these precious photos were miraculously saved. Well, there were the guys in big yellow suits that knew how to cover up antiques and things in chests, but the heat alone could have melted these old photos.
We walked the bridge that day back in 1987 with all 4 of our children. Little did we know that the bridge actually flattened out in the middle. But, by the time we were there, in the middle, no one could move. It took roughly 2 hours to get off at Doyle Drive. Walking through the toll booths was interesting.
I was reminded today about the time our entire family went skydiving in San Diego. All 6 of us in the air at once. And, just like that day in 1987, we threw caution to the wind and risked our entire unwritten family story to thumb our noses at death and soar through the air like the birds we clearly were not.
I wonder about how our lives would have been changed had something very wrong happened. I had trust and faith in the military men who trained us. They did, after all, train some of the best of the elite special forces on a daily basis. In the end, as I stood at the gaping doorway, I just had to jump and trust that my life was not about to end. Even though for just a second, I had to consider the possibility it would.
Looking over all the old photos I’m reminded of choices I made with my life, resulting in the affect it had on those in my whole family. And how one choice added to another, made every day, without really knowing fully what the consequences were, leads to a life well lived. Where there is the possibility of anything happening when we fish the spaces of the future.
And I also thought about how very little of it is of my own control. I truly think that is a good thing.
Sharon Hamilton
Accidental SEAL SEAL Encounter all at Amazon
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Never in a million years will anyone be able to convince me to jump from a perfectly good plane. 😀
LOL Judy! I will admit that first step was sure a doozie! 🙂
That sounds like a fun family adventure.
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Adventure it was. Risking it all and feeling the freedom of flying, facing all our fears. Was a wonderful day.
Skydiving, eh? I've missed that thrill in my life so far and at my age doubt whether I'll ever experience it. In my dreams perhaps. Thanks for the great guest post on my site.
Lee
Tossing It Out
You are sooooo welcome, Arlee. Least I could do for all you've done with the A-Z site.
I'm a Taurus, a real earth person. But in one of those blindingly ridiculous moments, I said "yes." Wasn't as momentous as saying "I do" but just as life changing. And I'm glad I did.
Nice seeing you here.
Sharon, I admire brave people like you. . .never in my wildest dreams would I jump from a plane, or ride a roller coaster. I am sure your taking risks reflect in your writing and help you write about people who do as well.
I did kind of get caught up in it. Fact was, after I said yes, everyone else (who had been holding out) jumped in and said yes too.
To this day, when something comes up, we say to each other, "Hey, you can do anything. You jumped out of a plane at 13000 feet. You can do anything…"
THANKS for stopping by.
I have some interesting pictures in my albums but jumping out of a plane is definitely NOT one of them. My brother was a paratrooper during Nam. I told him he was crazy.
You were right.
It really was amazing, though. You could feel the warmth of the earth as we fell. It was cold at first. And as we fell (feels more like you're leaning into a blast of air pushing you up like when you stick your arm out from a car window, we could feel the temp. rise. The earth looked soft, and warm. Like a fuzzy ball of yarn. There was freedom. I felt like I had the whole sky to myself.
In my Heavenly Lover book, the angel takes her human charge skydiving so he can feel what it is like to fly like she does.
It stretched my world just a little bit. And I'm still here to tell the story!
Inspirational post. I don't think I could ever go skydiving. I KNOW I couldn't go with my entire family. That is truly understanding things are not under your control. I need to work on that.
Jenn, I have to remind myself I'm not in control all the time. Almost every hour of every day!!