Vogue Skydiving With Silicon Valley Skydiving

This memorable blog post is what decisively led up to my June 27, 2022, 13,000 ft skydive on my 60th birthday, what happened during the jump, and the experience afterwards.

According to family lore, me and my twin brother were conceived on Staten island, however, we were born in Ohio. Growing up in the Midwest was fun. Unlike the Silicon Valley where I’ve lived most of my life, the Midwest has four seasons.

Spring brought frozen ground and lilacs. Summer brought fireflies and tadpoles. The fall brought various colors of leaves. It was spectacular. But unfortunately, they all fell to the ground, but we always, like most midwesterners, made piles of leaves and played in them prior to burning them in the backyard. I’ll never forget the brisk fall air, it was a sign of the winter to come. Winter was not my favorite season, but I love’d it a whole heck of a lot. It came with its own set of challenges. Not everyone, including my family had all the appropriate clothing to deal with winter. I even caught pneumonia one winter. What I really, really, enjoyed about winter was ice skating and ice fishing.

At 13, my family moved to Silicon Valley, San Jose, Hotel California. My brother and I had not such an easy time in our new school environment. I was a little bit more Street savvy than my twin, who was in those days, a geek or a nerd, and got beat up for it. Eventually my twin and I graduated from high school, although I almost didn’t make it. We went on to get bachelor’s degrees, and he went to the navy, while I started my own business. I got married, and he got married 10 years later, and that’s when he asked me to go skydiving with him. However, I didn’t have the money nor the courage. Nearly 10 years later, my twin suddenly died of a heart attack. Unfortunately heart disease was in our family. In the absence of my abiding twin brother, I think sometimes there’s no justice in life. That’s when I decided to go skydiving in his honor.

I woke up on the morning of June 27th, 2022, as a 60-year-old woman. However, I slept so well the night before, I felt like a teenager. I was excited and full of life wanting to jump out of that damn plane!

I had to be there at 2:00, but I left at 12:00. Driving to Silicon Valley Skydiving in Hollister, I couldn’t wait to get there. All the traffic signs or conditions gave me a sense it was my DAY!!! Because there was no traffic!

When I arrived, I was led into a trailer where I signed away my rights and my life. It was the second time, as the first time was online, when I scheduled my jump. I was then informed that everything I brought needed to be put back in the car, except my id, cell phone, and car keys. I waited for 40 minutes with other wannabe skydivers, who hadn’t jumped before, just like me. Finally, I was put in gear and was surprised by my Brazilian skydive instructor Igor.

Igor asked me if I was scared. I told him “No.” He said to prove it, and held out his hand mimicking his hand trembling. I showed him both of my hands, and none were trembling, and I even posed like my homegirl Madonna in her music video Vogue. You know, like “Strike a Pose.” We all laughed, and somebody chimed in at Igor and said, “She’s even better than you.” We then walked over to the plane, it looked like a Cessna, and we took a few pictures. I then climbed up a ladder to get inside the plane. There were other wannabe skydivers in the plane, skydiving with an instructor just like me. Without going into further details, I’ll just let the video speak for itself.

Our landing on Earth was phenomenal. I mean, I couldn’t believe I ever left the ground. No Olympic gymnast has ever nailed such a perfect landing. I love my twin brother so very much. I love you Dan your spirit is with me.❤