I survived jumping off a bridge!

Pre-jump

1...2...3 JUMP!

Wednesday, July 19, 2013 I jumped off a bridge and lived! Okay, I was strapped into a harness and attached to a huge bungee cord, but I still survived. My friend Jewel invited me the week before to join her family in doing a bungee jump. I thought about it for a minute, I just turned thirty-five, I have no kids, and the last "dangerous" thing I did was get my motorcycle endorsement. Why not jump?

That logic didn't seem as sound when I was climbing over the gate to walk to the platform. The metal platform felt cold as death under my bare feet. (Yes, not only am I jumping off a bridge, I'm doing it barefoot!) I looked at the blurred trees in the distance. I left my glasses safely stowed in my purse, so I wouldn't lose them to the canyon below.
 
"Reach for the dying cedar tree in the center."

 I looked Mike, the safety instructor, warily.
 
"It's not an omen," he said and laughed darkly.
 
"Toes on the edge, 3, 2, 1 jump!"

There comes a time when you can't go back. For me that was leaping off a 191-foot  bridge. For some reason, I thought I would have some hang time and gently float to the bottom. I fell like a stone! Humans aren't the exception to the law of gravity, apparently. In the blink of an eye, I was bouncing up and down and squealing in delight! I hooked myself to the retracting rope and was pulled back to the platform. All I could think about was, okay
next scary thing to overcome?

Post-jump