When my daughter turned sixteen, she and I began a tradition of celebrating her birthday together, just the two of us. We typically went for an overnight stay at a nice hotel nearby, where we enjoyed a spa treatment and dinner out. It was our special mother/daughter “bonding” time and a treat that I always looked forward to.
The year she turned twenty-two, she came to me with a different request, “Mom, I want to go skydiving for my birthday this year.” My logical response of, “You want to do what?” fell on deaf ears as she laid out the plan. The plan, had to be loosely based on truth while not revealing all, since she knew her father would not be pleased.
Not the type of person to keep secrets from my husband, I justified my deceit by deciding that it would be better to spare him the agony of knowing what we were up to, rather than trying to convince him that it was safe. After all, he would just sit at home and worry until the phone rang. So, we allowed him to believe we were headed up to Orlando for two nights at Disney World and off we went, to Skydive Sebastian.
We arrived for our 12:00 reservation and were handed paperwork that included a lot of very scary language, in very large print – stuff like YOU COULD DIE! appeared more than once on the liability waiver. We cheerfully signed every page and trotted off to our fifteen-minute “lesson.”
We were assigned to very experienced skydivers who literally became our lifeline. Getting acquainted, learning how to position our bodies into a gliding position and much talk about the landing (apparently that is when most accidents happen) filled the time while we awaited our turn.
Finally, it was time to board the plane.
Those are the “expert skydivers” clowning it up behind us. Had we seen this, we might have taken a minute to pause. But no, I dutifully scooted on my bottom to the open door; trusted joker attached at my spinal cord, and fell face first into the clouds. 
To be honest, that few seconds of free-fall was the scariest part of the ride. Once he maneuvered us into the glide position, it was all just one big Oh, My, god! The glide, the beauty of the earth below, the awareness of every emotion within me and the sensation of being completely out of control is beyond description. 
Trust me, that face says it all. Screams of complete exhilaration and delight! Followed by a picture perfect landing, relief and all smiles. 
Knees, nicely tucked awaiting my turn to plant feet on the ground. 
We made it!
We actually did spend the night in Orlando, and we had a wonderful day at Disney World, with hubby non the wiser.
When we returned home a few days later, we were anxious to share our story. Part of the package at Skydive Sebastian is a disc of professional photographs and a video of your skydive. We popped my daughter’s disc into a laptop, under the pretense of showing off our Disney photos. Much to his surprise, there was our daughter, falling out of an airplane. The range of emotions on his face went from “What the #%*@” to “I can’t believe you let her do this.” When he realized that I did it too, he could not contain his surprise and joy for the two of us. That was when the “wow, this is so cool” moment that we were waiting for happened and we knew the deception would soon be forgiven. I had to promise to never, ever do this again. I said “sure babe,” with my fingers crossed behind my back.
Note: the photos are marginal quality because I took pictures of glossy pages in the Shutterfly book that I created with the disc of still prints which we were provided. Those photographs and the video are amazing, but unfortunately, the disc is packed away in some unknown crevice within our home.
If you find yourself in South Florida, Sebastian is a great coastal town to visit and has much to offer beyond the skydiving experience. Follow our Discover Florida Series to learn more about our amazing State.
Great story – so good to see you guys enjoying this.
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To date, it was one of the best adventures we have had together.
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Our daughter went skydiving for her 30th birthday. I knew, my wife didn’t (for same reasons as you mentioned) but I had no desire to go with.
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What a fabulous experience and I admire your courage! I also love that you and your daughter have a special birthday celebration for just the two of you. A mother/daughter relationship is very special and you both looked like you had a wonderful time. All power to you for overcoming your fear! Thank you for sharing with us at #MLSTL and have a beautiful weekend. xx
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It is strange that I could do this, but riding up 100 floors on an elevator is out of the question.
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What a joy! What an adventure! I think you handled it just right. It’s always better to ask forgiveness than permission. Brava! Brenda
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Brenda, I agree. I honestly did not want him to talk me out of it and I knew he could. He is the practical one in our family and we love that, but sometimes, you just have to let go and test your fears.
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Good grief! You are amazing! If my daughter suggested that I’d have gone with her and stood firmly on the ground and watched. I am pathetic when it comes to heights so would have had my eyes shut the whole time and wasted the experience! My admiration for you knows no bounds!
Thanks for linking up with us at #MLSTL and I’ve shared this on my SM 🙂
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Funny thing is, I hate elevators. I cannot ride higher than 50 floors without having a panic attack. Go figure!
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This is so awesome!! You are so courageous to do this. (I have such a fear of sheer drops.) The faces of the pros behind you and your comment are way too funny. Love how you informed your husband via the pics! So clever. Am still smiling ear to ear and chuckling at his delightful post and joyous photos of exhilaration. Well done!
Peta
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Happy to have made you smile today. You guys have been having quite the adventure also. Love following along.
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That seals it – you have lost your mind !!
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Chuck, you know that I am entirely okay with that. Thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well with you.
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Daughter and I went on a mother-daughter getaway for years until I retired and she went to work. Skydiving would not be on either one of our lists though. Good for you and your daughter though for carrying through and having fun.
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I am just grateful that she still wants to celebrate with me. We will likely never do anything as outrageous as this again, but it was a great experience.
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Excellent! Although I’ve never had that desire, I admire you for overcoming your fears. My nephew’s wife (niece-in-law?) took their daughter hang gliding and didn’t tell her husband, who has a huge fear of heights, beforehand. She didn’t want to pass the same phobia down to their daughter that my nephew’s mother (my sister-in-law) passed down to him. Mission accomplished.
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I like the way your niece-in-law thinks. It is odd, the things that frighten us though.
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What a wonderful adventure that must have been! Kudos to you and your daughter for doing something many of us wouldn’t even consider. Great way to celebrate a birthday. 🙂
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Wow Suzanne you are brave. I am not sure I could ever do that, but I would certainly would love to have the courage. I laughed at the way you told your husband, I can just imagine his face. My daughter and I usually travel once a year, just the two of us. It is wonderful to have a close relationship with our daughters…may it last forever 😄
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