Jumping Off

    I was thinking in class today of what sort of person I am.  Four words to describe me best are a risk taker and a dare devil. I don't think I would be able to survive without taking a few risks here and there. It's not only the thrill but the way it gets my heart racing and blood flowing reminds me of the beauty of choice. For some reason, while discussing this topic with Isaac and Evan today, I realized I have this weird fetish to jump off of cliffs. (Of course, only ones that have water that I can land in.) So far, I've only jumped off of three, but each has a memorable story behind them that feeds the dare devil in me. 

    My first time jumping off was camping with my sister, and it was a hike just to get on top of the cliff. It took FOREVER for me to pull myself out of the water and attach to something to pull me up. You never know how deep or how far to jump out until you reach the top, and by that time there's no turning back. Once we reached the top, it was a quick count. ONE....TWO ... THREE... AHHHH! SPLASH! The feeling you get while falling two seconds is one that you'll have to experience yourself. All I know is it's terribly great!! The next time was camping as well, but wasn't so fun. When I crashed into the water, my big toe jammed into a rock, forcing gravel deep under my toe nail. After an hour of biting anything I could to keep from screaming and painful tweezers my family had to scrape under my nail, the rocks were finally all out. 

     Even if it was painful, I couldn't stop there.

  My final time was... indescribably amazing. I can't give you the full feeling of it, but I'll try. It was last year in Hawaii when me and and my family visited a natural waterfall. We were exhausted once we reached it, but I couldn't help but regain energy from what I saw. Water flowed from under my feet, and we were on top of a waterfall, looking down into the spring water at the bottom off the splash. It looked untouched, shaded perfectly by the deep green leaved trees. I looked at it, and felt excitement boiling within me. I didn't know how deep it was, and didn't care. All I knew was I was going to jump into the peaceful pool waiting for me.

     With my heart racing, I stepped back and charged as far out as I could, dropping into the chilled water. I had never felt water so cold, so refreshing. My skin felt icy, but I wasn't shivering. Somehow this water managed to keep me warm and cold at the same time; just perfect. I'll never forget the pre-feeling though; the feeling that drives me to push myself to want to jump again. Ahh I want to jump right now! :)