I will mark the 16th of June 2010 down as one of the most exciting days of my life. Jim, I, Dawn (my youngest daughter) and David (her husband) made a Tandem Skydive. Yes...we jumped out of a perfectly good airplane... with a professional skydiver strapped to our back. I invited Kim, my other daughter, but she told me...and I quote, "There is not one cell in my body that has longed to jump from an airplane, so, no thank you." Some say she is the smartest one in the family. In an attempt at full disclosure, I should tell you some of the things that I did not think all the way through until we were airborne. I actually paid an extra $10.00 to be taken up to 14,000 feet instead of "only" 10,000 feet. Well, I had no concept of height. After we were on our way up in the airplane I started to realize that 14,000 feet is very high. It is 2.6 miles straight up and during free fall I would be traveling at 120 miles per hour, straight down. Guess what...I loved it! But I do think about it more after the jump than I did before the jump.
Here are all four of us before the jump. From left to right are me, David, Jim, and Dawn.
This is Frank. Frank is my "guy" who took care of me the whole way down. He was such a nice guy and reassured me all the time. He only had one rule...DON'T GRAB HIS HANDS. Other than that, just relax and he would "fly" me home...and he did.
Frank told me he took his own mother on a skydive, which did make me relax a little.
Here is Frank and his bride-to-be, Leslie. They will be married in October. Leslie was my "videographer" and she was awesome! She actually hung onto the outside of the plane, at 14,000 feet, to get a picture of me and Frank coming out the door. She did everything we did only backwards and with a video camera. Like I said, "Awesome". I was so impressed with both of these young folks, in fact, all the guys and girls at Adventure Skydive. 
This is David and Dawn all ready to jump. It was so nice that they came with us on this adventure. It really made it special. Of course the look on Dawn's face says, "Now just how did I get here again?"
This is David and his "guy" getting ready to jump.
Jim is getting instructions from his "guy", Tyler, before the jump.
This is how they pack the chutes. Looks so easy...but must be just right.
OK, this is after the jump...and your hair would not be looking so good either after being blown at 120 MPH! So don't judge.
AIRBORNE!!
In the plane before the jump. My "guy" Frank is siting behind me.
Frank has already pulled the chute and it is getting ready to deploy.
I will mark the 16th of June 2010 down as one of the most exciting days of my life. Jim, I, Dawn (my youngest daughter) and David (her husband) made a Tandem Skydive. Yes...we jumped out of a perfectly good airplane... with a professional skydiver strapped to our back. I invited Kim, my other daughter, but she told me...and I quote, "There is not one cell in my body that has longed to jump from an airplane, so, no thank you." Some say she is the smartest one in the family. 
Here are all four of us before the jump. From left to right are me, David, Jim, and Dawn.
This is Frank. Frank is my "guy" who took care of me the whole way down. He was such a nice guy and reassured me all the time. He only had one rule...DON'T GRAB HIS HANDS. Other than that, just relax and he would "fly" me home...and he did.
Frank told me he took his own mother on a skydive, which did make me relax a little.
Here is Frank and his bride-to-be, Leslie. They will be married in October. Leslie was my "videographer" and she was awesome! She actually hung onto the outside of the plane, at 14,000 feet, to get a picture of me and Frank coming out the door. She did everything we did only backwards and with a video camera. Like I said, "Awesome". I was so impressed with both of these young folks, in fact, all the guys and girls at Adventure Skydive. 
This is David and Dawn all ready to jump. It was so nice that they came with us on this adventure. It really made it special. Of course the look on Dawn's face says, "Now just how did I get here again?"
This is David and his "guy" getting ready to jump.
Jim is getting instructions from his "guy", Tyler, before the jump.
This is how they pack the chutes. Looks so easy...but must be just right.
OK, this is after the jump...and your hair would not be looking so good either after being blown at 120 MPH! So don't judge.
Jimmy and I attended the Memorial Day celebrations at the Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala. It was a very moving ceremony. Little Ocala is a very patriotic town. The pictures below are some of the highlights.
All services were represented and honored here, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines. The Marines seen here are from a local Marine ROTC group. They did a great job and all looked like babies to me. I remember when the Lieutenants looked so young but when the Lieutenant Colonels started looking like they just got out of college, I knew it was time to retire.
All wars were commemorated, even the Civil War with representatives from both the Confederate and Union sides. These are the Confederate soldiers...
...and these are the Union soldiers.
The veteran's motorcycle club was a big part of the organization. They were helping with all aspects from parking to helping with the ceremonies.
This is the Monument to the Florida Metal of Honor winners. There are lists of names on all four sides.
They even had a fly over of vintage WWII planes.
For sure anyone associated with the Armed Forces knows that "Freedom is not Free" is a very true statement.
