Well, I am scared of a number of things; some of which ar tied to traumatic experiences. And I am sure that if I thought really hard, I might could come up with some really good ones; but, there is one thing that I’m not sure I could ever do – jump out of a perfectly good airplane…on purpose!
My cousin said that it was a lot of fun and a friend said the same thing, but I just cannot fathom the thought of skydiving.
I am okay with flying; thanks to my Dad. I have been told that I was on a “puddle jumper” when I was about six months old but obviously I don’t remember it. So, my first memorable experience with flying was when I was in college and made a trans-Atlantic flight.
I was looking at a nine hour flight across the pond and Europe on our way to Helsinki with the final stop in St. Petersburg, Russia. My mother…who is afraid of flying…had me terrified to fly. Two years past the initial invasion in Iraq didn’t help the situation at all.
I took my Dad two days to settle me down enough that I could get on the plane. While we had a long trans-Atlantic flight, first was a series of “puddle jumps” up the U.S. east coast. At the first stop I called my Dad at work to tell him how much fun I had. He knew then I was ok and didn’t need to worry…at least about that. I’m Daddy’s only girl, he worries about everything!
Since that first trip, there have been three more trans-Atlantic flights and two trans-continental flights plus a few “puddle jumpers”; but there is no way I would jump out of a perfectly operating aircraft…on purpose!
As for what it would take for me to actually jump…nothing short of a big parachute and a perfectly good airplane no longer in perfect working condition!
We have a new attraction here – a tethered helium balloon that goes 500 feet in the air. I have been on it and loved it. I have been to the CN Tower in Toronto, and while in St. Petersburg I was outside the dome of St. Isaacs Cathedral. Heights do not bother me. But there is just something about falling through the air that terrifies me.
Performing on stage is a close second!