On Saturday, November 13th, Great-Grandma Fern checked one more thing off her 'bucket list'. Over the years, my mom has gone on many adventures. Long before the movie made writing a 'bucket list' popular, Fernie wrote lists. Lists of goals, of dreams, and of daring adventures. Why in just the past few years she has hiked a mountain in North Carolina, traveled to all the national parks out west while staying in adult hostels, cruised to Alaska three times, visited Ireland-- sleeping in castles, stayed for a month in a casita in Mexico with 3 girl friends...she lives life full out and she's not afraid of anything. Remarkably young for her age in heart, mind and body, she has talked about skydiving to celebrate her 85th birthday since George HW Bush jumped out of a plane to mark his 85th birthday last year!
A small group of us gathered on a picture perfect Southwest Florida day and witnessed this awesome great-grandma bravely climb into the [very] tiny plane along with her grandson Rocky...Together, with the two instructors, they ascended the 15,000 feet before jumping within seconds of one another. Prior to take off Fern said, "Part of the reason I am doing this is to show my great-grandchildren that they can do anything in life, and age is just a number."
I must admit, I have some pretty wonderful memories of my grandma...uh, none of them involve skydiving. My grandma took me to ballet lessons and The New York World's Fair...my grandma taught me to pray. My grandma helped me plant a flower garden, brushed my hair, read me stories, encouraged me to sing her songs...and my grandma baked the best apple pie in the world...All I can think about is what an impression this had to have made on little Mia...not quite 4 years old. She will be talking about this when she is 85!
As we watched them jump...free fall for awhile...then the shoots opened and there we all stood in line gazing up at the colorful canopies against the bright blue sky...our joy and our admiration bubbled out of us as we could actually hear Fern yelling, "I'm having a great ride!" A picture perfect landing...one more item checked off her list. and, when she was done, I couldn't help but ask her what was next on her 'bucket list' as she beamed she said, "I would do anything to get Oprah tickets!"
I have never been more proud of my mom. Her love of life, her sense of adventure. The spirit by which she dedicates her life. She has accomplished so much over the years...I couldn't possibly begin to sum it all up in this one short blog post, but many years ago I remember my dad telling me, 'if you grow up to be half the woman your mom is you will be quite an amazing woman'. I know he was smiling down on her as I was smiling up, watching her float amongst the clouds...
