Skydiving this Saturday!

I have a list of things to do before I die and every opportunity I try and cross an item off the list. I am always adding item to the list, places I want to go, experiences I want to have; there is an entire airborne section of which I am proud to say that I will be crossing a long-standing item off my list: Skydiving.

Skydiving is something I've wanted to do for a very long time, and for whatever reason I decided that before surgery I wanted to cross something off my list, and the airborne section seemed most attainable. The other option was going on a discovery flight, however the real item on my list is get my pilots license, not just fly a plane. So I decided that skydiving was the way to go as it was an actual item on the list.

So this Saturday at 12noon I will begin the 30minute training before ascending to 9,500 feet where I will do a tandem jump with a 30second freefall. My lovely husband will be waiting in the drop zone (he refuses to be in the plane when I jump), I'm sure praying that I will land safely. I am a bit of a klutz (actually I am so much of a klutz that it has factored into what we look for in a home), so I do understand his fears.

Not gonna lie, I don't think it has sunk in quite yet that I am going to jump out of a plane on Saturday. Right now it just seems like I made an appointment for Saturday, similar to how I would make a hair appointment or something of the like. I am a bit of a chicken, so this is going to be very interesting... its sending shivers up my spine right now.

It's the whole 'live like you were dying' thing, the 'what if' scenarios that haunt me late at night have made me think about the life that I have, the time that I have, and what I want to be doing with it. Surgery is not without its risks (I really need to stop watching Greys Anatomy) and even routine surgery can go wrong. If something happens to me I want to have lived a life I can be proud of, a life where I have seized the day, made something of who I am and the time I have been so fortunate to have.

Thus, this Saturday I skydive. I don't know how I am going to actually do it, but I am going to find a way. And I can't wait to tell you all about it.
Until then, here is a question for you: What's on your list? Completed items? If you had the opportunity to do any 1 thing from your list right now, what would it be?

Live Like You Were Dying

When this song happens upon my ipod I must admit it makes me want to quit my job, go skydiving, see the world, and have a new experience everyday. It makes me think of those people who say that they have never "truly lived" for one reason or another, and in light my desire to donate a kidney, it makes me think of those that can't because they are on dialysis 12hrs a week, are too frail to travel, and spend every waking moment praying for a second chance.

I am very thankful for all of the opportunities that I have had in my life. I have a wonderful husband who loves me more than life itself, I have a wonderful family that treasures me, friends so close they are family, and I have lived a life. In my short years here I have been to University, graduated with 2 degrees, spent 6 months in Europe seeing sights I never thought I would see in person. I've had experiences, I've had my moments (fitting follow up to Live Like You Were Dying is I've Had My Moments by Emerson Drive). I've lived a full life, and although I know that I will come out of the surgery with flying colours and go on to have a family of my own, get my pilots license, and continue to have random wonderful adventures; I know that if something happens and this is it for me, I will have lived a life I can be proud of, a life of no regrets, a life of love, passion, family, friends, and meaning. 

I want to leave you with the lyrics that inspired my post today:

Artist: McGraw Tim 
Song: Live Like You Were Dying 
Album: Live Like You Were Dying

He said: "I was in my early forties,
"With a lot of life before me,
"An' a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
"I spent most of the next days,
"Looking at the x-rays,
"An' talking 'bout the options an' talkin’ ‘bout sweet time."
I asked him when it sank in,
That this might really be the real end?
How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man whatcha do?

An' he said: "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."

He said "I was finally the husband,
"That most the time I wasn’t.
"An' I became a friend a friend would like to have.
"And all of a sudden goin' fishin’,
"Wasn’t such an imposition,
"And I went three times that year I lost my Dad.
"Well, I finally read the Good Book,
"And I took a good long hard look,
"At what I'd do if I could do it all again,
"And then:

"I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."

Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An' what did you do with it?
An' what can I do with it?
An' what would I do with it?

"Sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
"And then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I watched Blue Eagle as it was flyin'."
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
"To live like you were dyin'."