After freefalling for a mile, her trained instructor pulled the shoot, and everything became dead silent. But before doing so, he let her know what was about to happen.
“From the time we got on the plane until we landed, he was preparing me for what came next, and asked if I was O.K.,” Hessenius said. “When he pulled the shoot, it was almost like whiplash.”
The shoot now above them, the wind had depleted completely. Peacefully flying, her heart didn’t know what to do with itself. Those nine minutes midair was simply amazing.
“I had total trust in my instructor,” Hessenius said. “I had zero fear. When we landed I wanted to do it again. I would have done it a hundred times in a row. It’s just so much fun.”
Her bring-it-on attitude did come with a teeny bit of apprehension though. Before they jumped out into oblivion, they participated in a “general skydiving ritual.”
“I believe there’s something a little higher than me and the plane,” Hessenius said. “So we said a little prayer for each other and did some high fives, knucks and whoosh we were out the door.”
Plans for another jump are in the works. Come July, she’ll be twice as high, 24,000 feet, with a West Side Skydiving instructor in Winsted, MN.
“I’ll do that jump this July,” Hessenius said. “Then I’m going to Wisconsin in the fall to jump with Skydiver Superior. I’m excited because with these two jumps, I’ll be able to get a video and pictures to remember it.”
Skydiving now crossed off her bucket list, she’s on to the next items of business. A hot air balloon ride, climbing a mountain and riding in a Nascar passenger seat and attending a baseball game at Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and the Rangers’ ballpark will all be completed before she croaks.
“Hot air balloon rides look so cool and peaceful,” Hessenius said. “My first mountain will be a little one, and as far as the Nascar things goes, I just want to go 200 miles an hour. They don’t let people do that, but I’m going to do it. I’ll write them a letter.”
Maybe she’s a little off her rocker, but she’s going to live it up while she can.
“You get to a certain age when you kind of think, ‘gosh I’m fifty already,’” Hessenius said. “I know I’m not eighty yet, but I’ve gotten to a point where I need to start doing something, so I have something to tell my grandchildren someday.”
