"We have to be friends forever now."

Yesterday was tied for first as the best day of my life (tied with, of course, the day that I became a Tía).

It was surreal. Absolutely, completely phenomenal.



I woke up and made French Toast for me and Kylee. We ate a lot of French Toast. It was so delicious!




Every other sentence that we would say to each other would be, "Dude! We're going skydiving today!!!!" It didn't even feel real. We couldn't believe that this was actually going to happen.



We got on the tram and headed to the train station to catch the 9:21 train to Esztergom. Our appointment wasn't until noon, and it takes an hour an a half to get to Esztergom, so we figured we would be safe and just catch the 9:21 train. But, we definitely missed it; and we were torqued. We had to catch the next one (they run every hour), but I think we were meant to be on that 10:21 train.




We get in our seats and about 3 minutes later about 2000 children come sit behind us. Ok, more like 12, but it sounded like 2000 children. There must have been some sort of birthday party or something, because they were wired. So wired, in fact, that the group of older women sitting next to us pulled out some beers and started drinking.





Kylee said, "We should have brought drinks with us!" While it was hilarious, we just wanted this train ride to end: we had a dream waiting at the end of it. It was the longest hour and a half our lives. It also didn't help that Kylee checked her watch every 2 minutes...

But we got there! We arrived at 11:50. And then we walked. We had 2.2 km standing between us and our dream.

We called the skydiving people, just to let them know we would be a little late. I was passed to like 3 different people, because no one really spoke English, and the last guy said, "Get in taxi. Come here now." Kylee and I looked around at this small town and saw no taxi. So we just started walking. Luckily this nice lady pulled over and offered us a ride. She also spoke no English, and the Hungarian word for airport has like 3 accents (so we can't really pronounce it correctly), so we just started making the wing movement with our arms. She laughed and understood.

And then we arrived. We were finally there! All we saw were about 4 half-naked men in their mid-30's drinking Red Bull and smoking cigarettes. Besides the fact that we knew were still in Hungary we were so pumped! All the guys were awesome and we became friends as much as you can with someone who doesn't speak your language...



Did I mention how beautiful yesterday was?





Absolutely gorgeous. They told us it was perfect weather for skydiving. Sunny with no clouds. Beautiful.

Kylee was first. She suited up, got in a plane, and was off. Waiting for her was horrible! The anticipation was awful. I wanted to be up there, falling through the clouds.

Kylee's landing was beautiful, completely graceful. And now it was my turn!

I suited up, hopped on the plane, and was off.







During the plane ride up, I can honestly tell you that I was not nervous at all. In fact I was probably more calm than I ever have been. I was looking out onto this beautiful view of the Danube River separating Slovakia and Hungary. I could see the Basilica and the beautiful landscape of Esztergom. How could I not thank God for seeing this? How could I not thank God for giving me this experience?


So I did. I prayed and I thanked him for everything. I also asked a small favor of keeping me safe while I was throwing myself out of a plane :)


The plane door opened up and I stuck my left leg out. And then it happened. I was falling from the sky. I was literally moving through the clouds and I was loving every second of it. If any of you ever get to see this video of me, the faces I make are absolutely priceless. It was so incredible.

The only problem: it was too short! The parachute went out and we were no longer free falling. It's ok, though, because the rest of the ride down was nice and relaxing. Except my landing: not graceful at all. But it offered some laughs :)




I'm sorry I don't have more pictures. Kylee and I have videos of the whole experience, but don't seem to have any photos. We were bummed, but don't really care all that much since, you know, we jumped out of a plane and everything.

On the train ride back, Kylee and I were all smiles. We even had some celebration beers (our Tandem pilots told us we had too :) )



On the train, I looked at Kylee and said, "You know we have to be friends forever now, right? When my kids ask me who I jumped out of a plane with, I don't want to just say some rando. I want to say, 'Oh! It was Aunt Kylee!' and I want them to know who I'm talking about. So you're stuck with me forever now." She just smiled and said, "That sounds perfect to me."

So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I would like you to meet my new lifelong friend, Kylee Frush. She is from Iowa. She is number 4 out of 8 girls (no boys...crazy!). She's a double Math and Bio major at Wartburg College. You can find her playing basketball, volleyball, or any kind of sport at any given time. She loves ice cream and eating frozen foods frozen. She has the loudest, most amazing laugh you will ever hear. And, most importantly, she is probably the most caring, incredible, wonderfully beautiful person you will probably meet.

I'm lucky she's my lifelong friend, eh?






I really couldn't have asked for a better 21st birthday present, Mom & Dad. Actually, a better birthday present in general. Thank you so much! I really am lucky to have you two as my parents. I love you ♥