Miles and I were laying in bed asleep on Friday morning when we heard our doorbell ring around 8:15. We have been asking the apartment complex to come fix a door that fell off it's hinge for awhile now, and they were supposed to be coming that day between 9 and 12. So Miles threw on some basketball shorts to answer the door. Instead, it was Kevin Fillmore asking if Miles wanted to go skydiving with some guys from the office. Miles said no, came back to bed. I asked who it was and what he wanted. He told me and I asked him if he wanted to go, he said no, I just want to be with you. So we went back to bed. But as I rolled over to fall asleep, I started thinking. How often does opportunity literally ring your door bell? I asked him again, do you want to go? And in his little raspy morning voice he said "yeaaaah." And I said ok, let's go. I'm coming too.
There was seriously no feeling like it. I was pretty nervous up until we got in to the plane, from there I was okay, which is weird because you'd think you'd get more nervous as you enter a tiny plane that you're going to jump out of... but I got a lot more calm. Maybe it's because there was no turning back. I just didn't think about it any more. I enjoyed the view, talked with my instructor (who has done over 6,000 jumps) and just jumped. We free fell 9,000 feet at an altitude of 13,000 feet and at 4,000 feet the parachute was released. The only thoughts going through my head during the free fall were "remember to breath, but smile, but remember to breath, have fun, remember to breath, smile" because it was so hard to breath! But once the parachute was released it was calm and quiet and peaceful. I would do it again, but I think my mom would have a heart attack! When I called her after we were done she asked me why I would ever do that. I told her it's because I wanted to try three things I had never done before, her response made me laugh "well make donuts next time, you've never made donuts." I love you momma! Hope you enjoyed the pictures :)
This whole experience has got me to thinking though, what is opportunity? When does it knock? I think you can wait a whole lifetime waiting, listening, hoping and not hear a knock at all. But instead I think we have to make our own opportunities. Some of my goals for the next six months are to be more open to opportunities, say yes to more things, as well as try things I've never tried before. I want to be ready whenever an opportunity presents itself. I think that as often happens in life, opportunities seem to come out of nowhere. Some people will make excuses why they can't grab the opportunity when it lands in their lap because they don't feel ready or able. But perfect alignment between the availability of opportunity and your preparedness rarely occurs. I want to be ready when opportunity knocks, because most times, it only knocks once.
A few weeks ago the Pinnacle office went to a SF Giants game. I didn't have enough notice to get the day off from work, so instead Miles came and hung out with me for a few hours at the skate park. It was a lot of fun to eat dinner together at a normal time and to watch Miles skate and teach one of the kids a few tricks. Now Miles and I have both spent a few hours in the life of one another's jobs. I have to say, mine is a lot more fun, but Miles' pays a whole heck of a lot better! In fact, we calculated my hours for this month, and I made half as much in an entire month than Miles does in a week. Thanks for working so hard Miles! 
