Nostalgic dreams

Taken in Florida in 2007

Last night I dreamed that I needed to find a way to get some skydiving gear so that I could join my friends to play in freefall once again. I remember trying to figure out how I could get some nice cheap but functional gear, since I wouldn't be using it all that long. This picture shows the gear I used for some record attempts at Lake Wales, Florida, in a days-long SOS camp (Skydivers Over Sixty). Yes, I was well over sixty, and that was ten years ago.

You can see it was windy (see my hair?), and I wasn't all that happy about going up to try for the record in that wind. We were just fine, though; nobody landed in the gator swamp, and I was careful to land well away from other skydivers (there were more than forty of us on each jump). I sold that black jumpsuit long ago, but I kept the rest of my skydiving gear. And I had two more jumpsuits that I loved very much, both purple.

Linny, Christy, me, Tyson, Dave

Here is a more recent picture, from August 2014, and the people I liked to play in the sky with at Skydive Snohomish. I sold my gear to a sweet young thing the following June, and I haven't made a jump since. But with the memories of more than 4,000 of them, I guess it's not unusual for me to dream about some of those wonderful times.

Me in front, SG behind

This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us under canopy together, after having made a skydive together and getting ready to land at the Skydive Snohomish airport. This is the last place I skydived during my long career as a skydiver. It will always be part of me.

I was determined today not to write about the weather or my injuries, and last night's dream carried me toward the nostalgia of years past. They are good recollections. And it's true that bringing back these memories has raised my spirits and put a smile on my face.
:-)