When English teacher Ashley Collins’ husband Tommy wanted to buy his wife a birthday present a year ago, the sky was the limit. Literally. He saw a Groupon for skydiving and thought, “Why not?”
Sitting in a drawer for almost 11 months, the Groupon was about to expire, so during the Thanksgiving holidays, Collins, Tommy, and a few of their friends headed to Cedartown to jump out of a plane.
“I was so nervous,” Collins said. “The night before I couldn’t sleep and the morning of it, I could not even eat.” It turns out, Collins’ nerves were warning her about the jump she would never forget.
When the group arrived at Skydive Georgia, they watched a short video and were given their gear. Next, they climbed into the prop jet, or as Collins described it, “a hot metal tube with benches facing backwards.” She said “just being inside of the plane” made her want to jump out.
Once airborne, they climbed to 14,500 feet, and suddenly things started moving fast. Johan, Collins’ tandem instructor, opened the rickety door of the plane to a cold rush of wind and a temperature that was 30 degrees cooler than the ground below. Johan and Collins, now clipped together with their equipment, walked to the edge of the plane and before she knew it, Collins said, Johan pushed them out.
“It seemed like we were falling forever, but we were going really fast,” Collins said. The parachute opened at 5,000 feet and the descent seemed to level out. Collins’ nerves, however, had not.
“I remember telling Johan that I couldn’t feel my feet and that I was dizzy,” Collins said. Suddenly, as the gliding duo descended to 1,000 feet, Collins said she fainted. As she and Johan neared the ground, Tommy, who had already landed, said he shouted to her, “Pick up your feet, pick up your feet!” But it was no use. Collins crash landed and face planted the ground.
Collins said she regained consciousness after about a minute. “I must’ve forgotten to breathe,” she said.
Although the experience was a thrill of a lifetime, Collins said, “I will never skydive again.”