I-fly or I-die?

It's a rare occurrence as adults that you get invited to a location birthday party...but I guess now that our friends are all turning 40, it's not quite as rare.  A few weeks ago we went to a 40th birthday party at a place called Ifly, an indoor skydiving party.  I had heard of some kids around Tyson's age having their parties there, and even though the thought of skydiving--even if it's indoor, scared me, if 11 year old boys could do it, then I could too!

As the day of the party grew nearer, I grew more nervous.  When we got to the party room, we got to watch a few groups "fly," which made me even more nervous.  Mostly I was worried it would make me dizzy, which would make me feel nauseous, which would make me throw up.  Or that the instructor would let go of me and I would go flying up to the ceiling and die.  Anyway, we were with a group of maybe 6 couples, and most of the women were a bit scared, which helped me feel a little better.  Little did I know, it wasn't me who should be worried;)

We suited up in our flight suits, helmets, and goggles and after listening to about 5 minutes of instruction, we were ready to go.   We lined up in no particular order...except maybe the scaredy cats going last!!  The line of party guests watched as each person took their turn.  Basically, the instructor takes you into a giant tube with fans blowing a ton of air to simulate skydiving.  When it was my turn, I jumped into the tube towards the instructor, he grabbed me and helped me get into the proper position (tummy down, arms and legs out, fingers spread, and head up) and then just kind of held on to me making sure I didn't lose control or fly away.  It was actually kind of fun...besides the air blowing straight up my nose and in my mouth.  Then after my minute (yes it's only a single minute) was up it was Mike's turn.

After I got out, I talked to the other people from our party waiting for their turn to fly.  There was also a TV set up to watch myself and the flyers that had already gone.  I started watching the TV, until I heard somebody gasp.  I looked into the flying cylinder and saw my husband...he was on his side against the wall (in the fetal position), with the instructor practically on top of him!!  Then I watched as the instructor struggled to get Mike back in the correct position and out the door to safety (practically carrying him like a little baby).

Mike came out laughing...and went back in for more when his next turn came.  We all had a good laugh at his expense, and now we have a great story to tell about how Mike almost died (not really) at an indoor skydiving party:)  After the flying was over, Mike asked the instructor what happened and he told him that Mike had hit his arm on the wall, causing his arm to go underneath him and the pressure from the air made him flip over.  Well...we got to download videos of us flying, so Mike watched his crash over and over (which is actually totally hilarious BTW) and he swears the instructor pushed his leg down and that's how the crash started:)  Good times.