[Leica] IMG: Another Smiling Jumper

[Jim Nichols]

Hi Ted,

One of the things I notice about the instructors, the guys who jump 
regularly, is that they are very quick on their feet!  I see some 
tumbles, but these are usually beginners.  Sorry about the shoulder.  
That's a bummer.

I think that if my late wife, Donna, had confronted me as Irene did you, 
I would  still be bearing the scars.  In her mind, I had 
responsibilities to her and our family, and risking my life was not a 
part of that picture.

By the way, she had a number of relatives in Alberta, all the way from 
Medicine Hat to Peace River.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 6/12/2016 5:17 PM, Ted Grant wrote:
> Hi Jim,
> On my first Jump it was, "solo!" Oh I had some brief explanations of what to
> expect and do.
> I know I was smiling and partly laughing as I was so happy to have made it
> to earth without crash diving 6' under! :-)
> One moment you are safely in the plane the "Jump-Master" facing you and all
> of a sudden he yells... "GO!" And without thought..... out you go into the
> wild blue quickly falling toward Planet Earth.
> You look up to see if the chute opened? What you see is the tiny "looking"
> plane you just left a few moments ago. And there is the chute canopy in full
> bloom in it's beautiful colour gently lowering you downward.
> "THEN YOU LOOK DOWN AND THE WORLD?" appears like it's sort of coming at you
> very quickly! :-) It isn't, unless your chute didn't open??? We wont talk
> about that?
> Unfortunately for me I did come into the landing a tad fast, hit the ground
> rather hard right shoulder down. (Notice not feet.) Well they did, but I
> lost my balance as I was coming in a tad fast! OOPS!  A year later
> re-wrecked right shoulder when falling in a graveyard while on assignment in
> Russia on the Chernobyl children. Oh it hurt, not too bad! But then if
> you've never been in a Russian hospital? Jeeesh "DON'T GO THERE UNLESS
> YOU'RE DEAD!"
> Just  grin and bear it until back home.
> Eventually a few years later had my right shoulder re-placed.  Oh well what
> the heck that's part of being a world travelling photojournalist. Things
> happen.  :-) :-)
> Would I jump again? No because I promised my dear wife Irene I wouldn't. But
> that was because she quietly offered after the first jump!
> Actually she didn't know I was going to jump until our son drove her to the
> airfield. "if I ever did it again and even though I landed OK?" She would
> kill me! Smiled eyeball to eyeball then quietly walked away. There you are
> good Sir. And no I have never jumped again!  :-)
> cheers,
> Dr. ted
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>