Change is SO good!

Well, friends, I'm still alive!

Sorry I have been MIA for the last few weeks. Life has been busy, busy... but GOOD busy, unlike the super stressful/annoying and overall BAD busy of before. 

We have moved & settled into our new place in Columbus. It's funny how comfortable I feel here compared to living in Charlotte. Ohio is, and will always be, HOME. I'm glad I figured that out sooner than later. And I'm lucky to have a husband that is more than willing to let me have that, even though home to him is the Rocky Mountains. 

Speaking of the Rockies... we managed to squeeze a trip out west into our crazy few weeks and had a fabulous time. Check this out: 

 

That's me, skydiving! 

Here's me, happy that I am still alive.
(I was nervous about that.)

How did this whole skydiving adventure come about, you ask? Well, my father-in-law is a second generation smoke jumper (you know, those crazy people who parachute into the wilderness to fight wildfires because it's impossible to get there in a vehicle). After that, he worked for the Forest Service on parachute design & testing and now he does top-secret stuff for the military. Cool, huh? So anyway, he signed us up for a jump and I thought what better situation than to jump with someone he knows is super good? Super good tandem jumper, Gary, pictured above. The guy has been jumping for 40-some years and has made over 8,200 jumps! Yeah, I think maybe he knows what he's doing.

Every experienced jumper I talked to before the big day (Paul, Paul's dad and Paul's grandpa) told me I wouldn't feel like I'm falling at all... no stomach in the throat, just the feeling of floating. I couldn't believe it, but that's TOTALLY correct. I had NONE of that roller-coaster feeling. I screamed, yes. But then I looked around at the gorgeous mountains. See?

(That's Paul & Gary coming in for a landing.)

I cannot WAIT to jump again. I think this is our new (expensive as hell) hobby. It takes 25 jumps to get certified to jump solo. Just FYI. Ha!

Anyway, back to the point. I'm loving the changes in my life - new state, new job (um, seriously, no boss is the best thing ever), new apartment, new (SHORT) drive to see the fam, new (LOW) stress level... good stuff. Very good stuff. Yay. :)