Saturday, April 6, 2013

# 26 - If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you? Yes! - Completed July, 2012

I am finally getting around to writing about a few of my experiences... here is one of the first...

I am definitly not a person who looks at a bridge and thinks, "hmmm, I wanna jump off that!" I would have to say that I lean more towards the side that will scold those who attempt. In fact, many of my friends were talking about jumping off of the John Weeks bridge, sometimes called the Harvard Foot Bridge, and about how awesome it was. They were also saying that they would never do it again. I took that as advice that I should NEVER do it. Ever.
Until one night I looked at this list. I realized that if I kept saying "no," I would never get #26 done, "doing something physically adventurous." So I told myself if the opportunity came again, I would most certainly say "YES!"
When I received a text one night, my resolve was put it to the test. I had just finished a long day at work and I was feeling as if I wanted to hide from the world. I got home, got in my jammies, and resigned myself to my bed for the remainder on the evening.
Then I got the text. I had told my friend, J, to text me the next time he was going to jump off the bridge,  as it was a common occurance for him. Of course, right when I got comfortable in my soft bed, was when he chose to go.
I looked at it, then put my phone down and told myself that would be a ridiculous thing to do and that I was going to bed. There was definitly an inner battle raging. Do I jump off a bridge, or stay in bed? Before I could stop myself, I picked up my phone I responded "yes."
Sure, even at this point I could have changed my mind and stayed right where I was, but now it would appear like I was backing out, which, of course, would have been the case, instead of looking like I was just busy ... I did not want to look scared!
So I got my swimsuit on, grabbed a towel and marched out of my house.
I was excited, until we got to the bridge.
As I climbed onto the edge of the bridge, pictures of horrible things started racing through my mind; ranging from a belly flop to landing on my kneck. None of the scenarios were actually plausible, the bridge was not THAT high... but they seemed so possible right in the moment.
At this point a crowd was forming, I decided that I just needed to get this over with and go.
Someone starting counting. I did not want to be still standing on that edge when the counting stopped. 5-4-3-2... 1.
It seemed farther once I was in the air. I was actually shocked when I hit the water. I screamed all the way down.
As we got out of the water, someone asked if anyone wanted to jump a second time. Heck yes! Mostly I wanted to prove that this was not a fluke and that I am that gutsy!
Since that night I have jumped several times and every time is just as exciting and horrible as the first.
One day I will have the footage of the video... proof of my adventure. And maybe even further in the future, I will jump off something just a little bit higher...
But that might need another bucket list.

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