But Mom! All my friends are going to be doing it!

"If your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you want to do that too?"
             My Mom - on multiple occasions while I was growing up
"Yep."
      Me - August 25, 2010

We stood on the edge of the cliff, staring down into the water watching the waves crash against the rocks below us.  The conversation was going something like this: "You jump. No, you jump.  I'm not going to jump first, you jump.  Are we all going to jump together?  I don't know if I want to jump. Come on, you jump. I will but I'm not jumping first."  Across from us watching the action (or non action) was the escort of my two young companions, a hot looking contractor in his late 40's/early 50's and he was giving us jumping insructions. I didn't catch his name but I refer to him as Shawn Konnery because he sounded just like Sean Connery.  Gave him instant credibility. Seriously, the guy could have told me to jump into the rocks and I would have.  "That's right, honey, go ahead and jump right there on the rocks.  Just wait for the waves to come in and you'll be just fine."  Hey, when The Voice tells you to jump, you jump.  Back on the cliff, the conversation continues: "I'm not jumping by myself. Are you sure you're going to jump? YES! but not first! Hey, how do we get back up?" Shawn, who is starting to look like he's going to come push all three of us off the cliff into the water points out the obvious way up.

It's a long way down.

Meanwhile, back on the cliff:  "I'm not jumping first, you jump first. Hey, how about we count to three and we all jump together? No, you'll count to three, I'll jump and you two won't! Oh hell with it, I'm jumping. See ya in the water chickens."

See mom, the problem was that my friends WEREN'T jumping off the cliff and it was up to me to set a good example.  So I jumped.  35 feet into the water below.  I'm here to tell you, this is NOT a natural act.  We tried to convince ourselves that it was just like jumping off the high dive in the pool.  But it takes even more than that to overcome a strong survival instinct.  But once you do, what a rush!  It was the coolest thing ever!  My first thought was "S*^%!!!" and my last was "OUCH!!!" Dang it hurts to hit the water from that height! 


Someone has to set a good example for today's youth. Unfortunately, I'm not that person.

I hit the water and then shortly after, Aaron did too.  We were starting to climb out when Matt finally jumped.  Of course, what goes down 35 feet must come back up 35 feet.  The only way up was to climb up the cliff.  Then jump off again.  This time I remembered to plug my nose so I could avoid having my sinuses pressure washed with salt water a second time.  After a couple of jumps, Aaron decided it was time to move to the high jump.  I was going to try it as well but gosh, I lacked the right footwear to do it. I would have done it if I'd been wearing tennis shoes.  After all, what could be more natural than jumping off of a 35 foot cliff?  You got it! Jumping off a 40 foot cliff where you have to launch yourself out 5 feet so you clear the cliff below you!  Added bonus of not being able to even SEE the water from the upper ledge so you have NO idea where you are going to hit.  But I would have done it.  If I'd only had tennis shoes.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 



Matt (in black), Shawn and Aaron (on upper ledge)



Aaron taking the high jump