Bungee? Yes, please!

The morning started off innocently enough with tea and fresh bread but as I sat, writing in my journal Janine´s (daughter) phone rang. It was a friend asking if we might be interested in a bit of bungee jumping. Despite the fact that the very nature of this type of activity is in direct violation with the "Play it Safe Plan," my immediate response was, "sure." * side note* for those of you who worry, I obviously checking into the safety of the place providing the service and once that checked out, I was def in!.Fortunately, everything happened quickly and within two hours we were on our way with no time to talk myself out of it. Janine, her pal, Diego, and I stood under the tiny orange cage suspended high in the sky and watched about ten kids jump. Ok, no one died or was hauled off because of any broken bones... so at that moment I felt pretty good about it all. The cage was anchored to four nearby mountain tops and once the jumper was harnessed in, the cage would pick up them up on the ground then float off into the clouds. Finally Diego was up, it was literally hours after our arrival (the crew went on a "20 minute lunch break" right before our turn but of course that was a Peruvian lunch break) and I had talked myself in an out of actually following through about 48 times. Diego returned to the ground safely and was all smiles. But I`ll tell you now that my sweaty hands weren`t nearly as excited as I tried to make my face appear. Within seconds of my name being called I was weighed, buckled into a harness and had both legs independently strapped with what felt like 15 tie-downs. I blinked again and I was in the cage slowly creeping up and up and up... How far up, you ask? ohh no big deal only 400 feet... When I inquired about the details of how I was to perform my instructions included the following: "don`t look down and scream, scream the whole way, it is more fun that way." Umm thanks I guess I`ll figure out the rest after I pitch my perfectly intact body out of this dumb little cage. Thanks for the help man! Eventually, he offered one more bit of advice and that was to cover my face with my arms on the first rebound. Why? Just in case the rope comes back and hits you in the face. Wow, bungee face. Great. This guy is making me feel fantastic about the whole thing... With only ten meters to go he asked if I was also going to do the giant sling shot. Um, no! Absolutely not that thing looks mega scary. Then he told me that he had done the sling shots hundreds of times and bungee only 40 because bungee is way scarier. Again, thank you, kind sir, my hands are not sweating at all anymore. The cage stops and the gate opens, I step out on the platform and ignore the very first and probably only worthwhile piece of advice the guy gave; I looked down. I just wanted to see what my friends looked like from so far away. My conclusion, they look very tiny, surprise. Cage man asks if I am ready and I say "yes...but wait...yes, wait...wait..wait, yes but just wait, ok just a second... I am ready... ok...ok, but wait ok, ok, ok..." This was the do or die a pansy moment and without another thought I yelled "YES!" and was flying! My arms out stretched, I flew, bounced, covered my face then just soared! WOW! Are you serious? That was amazing, let`s do it again!!! But this time bigger, something higher!