It wasn't on the list. But should have been.

Ever since the movie The Bucket List came out, you KNOW you have put thought into what would be on yours. You may have written it down. Maybe not. I put mine on my blog. While it isn't in ink....cyberspace is keeping it warm for me. And while it exists somewhere, that means I am accountable for it. I have this overwhelming urge (especially because I am not engaged in some type of organized training right now) to start crossing things off it, right now. Why wait?  

Two of the things on the list have to do with being up in the air. Hot air balloons and skydiving. I used to have dreams when I was a kid that I could fly. Only I wasn't flying....I was swimming breaststroke in the air. That was probably the closest thing I could imagine the sensation of flying to be like. Being weightless in water is surely what those birds feel like, when they catch a current and seemingly float in the air unmoving. I have always wanted to feel that.

Is that why I dressed as Wonder Woman for Halloween? She has an invisible plane at her disposal. No, I picked the outfit because it came with a cape.  :)  Which maybe I could wear when I eventually do go skydiving. 

Until that opportunity comes around....I got the chance to go in a helicopter!!!! Which is another thing I have always wanted to do, but never have. Being cautioned profusely by my family that I may hurt myself and risk my chances to play at the Olympics, I have blocked it out as a possible activity. (I think what my Mom was really saying was..... "Helicopter tours in Hawaii have a very bad crash record. I would prefer that you stay alive. Do not go on them." Thanks for helping me see the light Mom.) Going in some random flying vehicle, one in which I do not know the maintenance record or attention the particular pilot pays to the details of his bird would make the experience far more stressful and thus subtract from actually absorbing the feeling of flying. So I am glad I waited!

A very experienced helicopter pilot, one who owns his own chopper, happened to be the father of one of the girls I coached this high school season. He offered to take me for a ride around the San Francisco Bay Area when the season ended. I told him that I may pee my pants (with excitement). He may not have been so excited to take me after that, but he took me anyway. :)

Pretending to be the pilot.....

San Francisco & The Golden Gate

GO BEARS!!!!

I should have had "taking a ride in a helicopter" on my list. It was amazing. If you are not afraid of heights or have vertigo or something.....then everyone should think about going up in one. Of course, my mom was right, only with a trusted pilot and healthy aircraft. :)