Michele

When I was at the bottom of the pit, depressed and frozen, I was counseled to begin keeping a "Blessing Journal". That's a journal where I name 5 blessings I had encountered that day. Some days it was terribly difficult to find 5 blessings - until I realized that "I was breathing, the flowers were blooming, I had enough toilet paper, there was enough rice for 2 more days, and I had a pen to write these blessings with" (Yes, that's a real entry). After keeping this journal daily, and sometimes struggling hard to find enough to make the entry, I began to understand. Blessings are all around me, all the time, everywhere I look. They are abundant, they are free, and they are indeed blessings. It is not the new yacht sitting at the dock, or the new ferrari sitting in the garage; nor is it the money in the bank. It is not the things we acquire, it is simply that which is freely given us. The sky, the sun, the grass, the love of a friend. It is the purr of a kitten, the cuddle of a puppy. It is the incredibleness which is this life. And upon realizing that, there was another understanding. God, whomever He/She/It is, whatever you believe it to be, however it shows up for you personally, is about love. Love and laughter and joy. It is about acceptance and simplicity and everything being always new. It is about the hug of a child and the glance of the aged, both sides of this life meeting and sharing an understanding. It is the sunkissed daisy which blooms right outside your kitchen door. It is appreciating that which is all around us, all the time, often unnoticed or rushed past. It is taking a moment, an appreciation moment, to smell the jasmin on the night air, to make a stranger smile, to watch a flock of birds in flight. It is a brief recognition that in the simplicity of the world lies God. I once was told to see myself as God sees me. And for several years I did not understand that. Instead, all I saw was ugliness, failings, frailty, insecurity. And one day, I understood. God sees all that, yes, but above that, beyond that, he sees the perfection and perfectness of who I am, inside, and loves that. He sees my potential, not my actual. He encourages me to find the potential, and not remain in the actual. He sees me as he meant me to be...and doesn't care that I am not perfect, nor frail. He sees me as the light. Thank you, God, for opening my eyes and touching my heart. Thank you for stripping from me whatever had been in the way of my appreciating the beauty in the everyday world around me. And thank you, God, for melting my frozenness so that I could begin to see the simple things which reflect your face... And I thank God daily, for every blessing, and every moment I am allowed. I try to thank God in the way I live my life, and in the way I treat people. And while I fail, I know He knows. And I thank Him for that. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

So why not try to find the exact moment - that split second - where you plane out...but up high, and with all the room to spare? Over and over, find that sweet spot, where you stop "going down" and swing forward like a pendulum (only more gently)...where, if you were only 1 foot off the gound, you would jus step back onto terra firma, with no problems, all forward speed gone? How does it work when you flare fast? Slow? In between? 2-stage flare? If you do these up high, you learn more in a canopy ride than you could ever imagine. And it does translate directly to the flare that counts - the one which lands you on the ground. Flying a canopy is not just landing. Like Cora said, it's knowing how to get your canopy to do what you ask it to do, and not be a passenger. It's about knowing alti loss for different types of turns...it's about learning the sweet spot. It's about knowing if you do X, Y will happen. You will never know this until you really start practicing it, and you might need it before you have explored your canopy's performance. If you had a reserve ride, would you wait until you were at the moment of actual landing to find out how it flares? Or would you try to figure out that high enough so that when you came down, you had a better idea than nothing about it's flaring capabilities and flare points? Also, keep in mind that what you learn at 3K under canopy can save you on final. Some doofus doesn't see you, and carves in front of you. You're about 75-100 feet from the ground; he's all of 12 feet in front of you, and a little bit lower now - and he has the right of way. Would you know how to get away from him? Would you just hope you'll be o.k.? Would you panic-turn yourself into the ground? Or do you have the ability to flat turn 45 degrees, back to full flight, and land safely? It's what you learn up high that translates to your actions near the ground... The value of getting to know your canopy is simple. It will save your life. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Here's a quite UNeducated one...seeing as how I am still not sure what a stepthrough is and what it would look like in the air. Going on what Phree said about it being a steering line... Would it be possible to not have set the left brake until it was laid out on the packing mat, and somehow it was not caught as a looping through the other lines? And then the lines were not cleared from below the toggle, but rather just grabbed closer to the actual parachute to shake it out (or whatever), and then the normal packing occurred? Was there any wind just before he packed it? I ask because my last jump was in serious winds, and by the time I managed to get me and the chute back to the packing tent, I had a bollux of lines and even a knot or two. I unstowed the brakes, "ran the brakes" (where you clear them of twisties? Don't know a better word for it), reset the brakes, and then tucked my fingers between the groups and checked the continuity from the toggles to the cascades. (Did that make any sense?) Once I was positive there were no more knots and that everything was in place, I asked my packer to do the same, and double check me. It was fine. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Me....to have more time under canopy, so I can learn a ton about it. And I'm not a crewdawg... Pulling high is not bad. It can be cold, but it is not bad. It's the way you begin to learn about how to fly your canopy well... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hey, Rebel? Thanks. And you really have to tell us how it went, o.k.? Really and truly. Rawk on!!! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

I read the original waiver thoroughly, to comprehension, as you said. It was very long, tedious, and legaleze-ish, but I read it. And I asked several questions about it, too. When I went over to Elsinore for the first time, I read it there, albeit less thoroughly, but still quite well. I didn't need to ask any questions about it though. Do I think they are generally read? Prolly not. Do I think traveling jumpers read them? Again, prolly not. As to losing concentration, I didn't, but I don't know about anyone else. Ciels- Michele Edited for spelling ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Kreg, vibes for your brother in law and the whole family. Shine on, Rita, shine on... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Happy birthday, my friend. Many, many more to come, I'm sure... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hey, Kris? Happy Brithday, my friend! You rawk!!!! Many, many more to come!!!!! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

I was quite surprised to see a whole formation above him..... But it's a sharp picture! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

I've ridden it down twice...once because I couldn't get into the door, and once because of winds. That's not counting the several times I just couldn't get onto the plane in the first place...and then there was the time I went to the DZ, rented equipment, and did an observer ride because I didn't know the DZ and was too freaked to spot alone...so I rode with the pilot, and he pointed out landmarks, even turning the plane sideways (after the jumpers were gone) to show me the big, gigantic X (which can, I think, be seen from the moon....)...which is what I look for now. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Actually, the answer I gave was incomplete...Elsinore has 3 landing areas, and about a billion acres surrounding it so that "where" is not generally a problem. The swoopers land in the west. The center area is for good canopy pilots (which is not yet me), and the east is for the students. And back off all of that is a ton of open clear space where we can choose to land should the closer options become crowded. I land there a lot, but not always because of choice....sometimes I just arrive there...but I would rather walk a long way with foxtails in my shoes than lay there on the ground needing morphine...or worse. Close calls, if seen by the S&T or owners are handled well and appropriately. People don't generally get into screaming matches in the landing area or in the packing tent. I myself took a ten minute break - and then did a whole 'nother jump before handling a situation with another jumper...I needed to calm down before I got irish on this person, because I was scared and upset, and I also wanted to see if it repeated. The situation ended well, with both of us learning more about how to handle the problem, and developing a communcation which had not been there before. This is a good result....and yelling in the packing area would not have yielded it. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

I ask them why they're not going to die, and can I have some of what they've got? Then I grin and tell them, like I told my mother, that most people die in the hospital, after a debilitating illness and long slow degeneration. If I get to die outside, after doing something I love, having just come from God's playground, I am better off...and then I reassure them it's not my intention to die, but if it happens, it does...just like it's not their intention to die sitting at their desk and stroking out, or getting hit by a drunk driver while walking across the street - but if it happens, it does. Death happens....to everyone. And while I'm here, I am playing 100%... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Chris, that was well said, well written, and well felt. Thanks. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

yes, 'Mama, and MPD may be one of them.... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hey, Roger? Just wanted to take a quick minute to say thanks....thanks for standing for what you believed in. Thanks for having passion in such abundance it electrified everyone around you. Thanks for having a vision big enough that it touched a whole community. Thanks for having a dream, and for having the courage to see it through. Thanks for giving people the understanding of what this really is all about - that limits are self imposed, and only as confining as you allow them to be. I never did get to meet you. But if I had, I would've said thanks...and you would've understood. Missy and Rook, you are in my prayers. He is not gone, he is in your heart, in your sky. He will never be farther away from you than a smile, a hug from a friend, and if you listen close, you'll hear him laughing...I promise. My condolences, and my deepest sympathies, to all who are affected. And to the other jumper, you are in my heart and prayers, too. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Quickdraw...a serious question. Would you be willing to jump the 160 as your main? NO? Why not? It's your last chance... Look, if you're not willing to hang your ass under it as a main, there is no reason you should allow yourself to get under it...after a serious malfunction, with adrenalin coursing through your body, it's your last chance. I don't care how "good a deal" it is. Morphine drips run somewhere around $250, ambulance rides can be thousands of dollars, and hospital bills significantly higher. Not to mention the amount of repair work it will cost to repair your rig after it's been cut off you. That's not a deal. Not by a long shot... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Vibes, Luna...a little late, but vibes anyway! Hugs to you! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

0:4:1,234,567,890.... Man, what a weekend. I have John LeBlanc's sig in my log book...and attended 4 seminars given by him....and he critiqued all my landings and set ups...he's superb! I got two jumps with Andrew Staich (dude rawks. Simply rawks!) I did a decent sitfly attempt after a wickedly violent funnel...and it was my fault (why'd I stick out my leg? And then my arm? Geesh!!!) I had my skull opened, information dumped in, and my skull slammed back on....and then told to think. I learned soooooooo much! Wowie. Just....wowie. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Feel better soon, Chris....and this was sooooooooo not the post I wanted to read, you know? Drat!!!! Oh well...welcome to skydiving, where the weather only cooperates on a whim... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

See, I'm glad I checked this thread before I left for the afternoon for the weekend...my neighbor would've taken them in from the porch for safekeeping and then forget to tell me.... Mike, you're wonderful. My father gets his Father's Day photo and begin to understand what this is all about...my brother will get his gift, too, and see his little sister playing in the sky. My nephew will stand there shrieking "Yookit Noni fly away", and my niece will simply stare...and my mother will smile. Thanks for playing with me - and thanks for doing this for us here. You rawk...and smell good.... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Know what? I've learned so very many things here there'd be no start and no end. Some applied to skydiving, some applied to life, some applied to me as a woman, some applied to me as a human being. Some were fun and easy lessons, some came with many tears and oodles of frustration. Most had immense value. Some had very little...but there was still some value in them at the end of the day. For all who contribute, thanks...I appreciate it. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

It depends on how badly my already frail budget is...but if I can get there, I will... Mimosa's, huh? Well......how about doing that starting Monday? Chris - I will be looking for that damned homing pidgeon. And mucho fun for you this weekend...you will rawk the house! Sigh...kinda weird feeling - both dreading it and really excited... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

LOL, yes, well, them Memorial day was spectacular - I still have two showing bruises from that, 2 weeks ago! Jess, I am not terribly good at sucking up....but I will try. I wonder what my clients on Monday will think of me as I cry getting in and out of the car... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~