The last time I laid on one of those beds it was 1998, nearly 12 years ago.  Really?  Had it been that long?  How could I have let so much time go by?  Sure, there have been trips out of the country, tattoos, ear piercings, and pregnancies, but 12 YEARS? Well, today, I had no excuses.  No recent international trips, tattoos, pregnancies.  Today, I could donate blood.

I had little over 45 minutes today before I needed to be back home to let the babysitter go and I knew that the church just down the road was hosting a blood drive.  I figured I would just stop by and check t0 see if they could even get me in and finished before I needed to be home.  They said they would try.  Ok!

They entered my updated info into the computer and then asked the question I had dreaded: “have you ever failed the iron test?”  The answer was an honest “no” but, in the back of my mind, I knew my iron levels are consistently low.  The nurse poked my finger, took a little blood and put it in the little tester machine.  I needed a minimum hemoglobin level of 12.5 g/dL.  Mine was 11.4.  I had two options: leave and try again next time or have a different nurse do a retest.  Retest it is!  Moving on to my left hand, after a much more painful poke, my hemoglobin retest came back at 12.9!  Yay!

I took my place on the very uncomfortable table in the middle of the room, the nurse asked my name about twenty times (I guess to make sure I wasn’t pretending to be someone else), and then we were off and draining.  The nurse was pleasantly surprised at how quickly my blood was draining out (I’m apparently a fast bleeder) and I was, umm, surprised at the choice of music they were playing.  I’m lying in a church, donating blood, and they are playing “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies.  You know the song — Once, there was this girl who wouldn’t change her clothes with the girls in the change room.” It was weird!

Anyhow, I finished donating, sucked down a small can of orange juice, and got home in time to let the babysitter go.  And it felt so good!  I loved knowing that I did something that could potentially help another person.  Not someone that I actually knew but someone.  And it was so easy.  Forty-five minutes, a few yes or no questions, and some needle pricks, that was all it took.

I will definitely be donating again. I have the blood.  I’m healthy.  I will continue to donate blood as long as I can.  What I’m really hoping to do now is to get tested to donate bone marrow (It’s on my Life List)!

Have you ever donated blood (or been tested to donate bone marrow)?  If not, what is holding you back from donating?  Don’t worry, I’m not judging you for not being a donator!  I’m just curious.  I totally understand that there are people that can’t donate and there are people that would rather eat dirt than be poked with a needle.  If you’ve never donated but are interested in doing so, here are some interesting facts:

• • 1 pint of blood can save up to 3 lives
  • Every 2 seconds someone needs a blood transfusion
  • 5 million patients in the US need blood every year
  • Less than 38% of the population is eligible to donate blood
  • Blood cannot be manufactured; it can only come from volunteer donators
  • You get juice and cookies after you donate!

You can learn more about donating blood and even find local blood drives at RedCrossBlood.org.

FYI…this post actually has nothing to do with the American Red Cross.  They did not contact me to write this post and have no idea that I am writing it.  I believe strongly in donating blood, if you can, and wanted to share this experience with you.  I am in no way being compensated by the American Red Cross for this post or by anyone else.

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If you’ve been following me on this blog, Twitter, or Facebook, you’re probably sick of me talking about skydiving.  If that is the case, then you won’t want to read this post!  Because, Ladies and Gentlemen, I did it!  I finally jumped from a plane.  And I’m too pumped not to tell you all about it!

After a cancelation due to weather two weeks ago, and the weather deteriorating since, I wasn’t holding my breath that we would be jumping at all this year.  So, I checked the weather as soon as I could see October 10 on the ten day forecast.  I checked every day.  Twice a day.  It started out hopeful.  Sunshine and 60s.  Then it turned to clouds.  Then rain.  Then clouds again. Finally, it was forecasting some sunshine and 50s.  So we might actually be doing this!

Then, last night I saw this:

So, we might actually be doing this!

Finally I checked Twitter this morning, knowing that if we were getting canceled they would post something pretty early.  And this is what I saw:

Umm, we’re actually doing this!

First I must tell you this:  Thankfully our dear friend Sara, who was over here visiting her family and whose husband was taking care of her own kids for the afternoon, was willing to babysit our girls so we could go.  Without her willingness I’m not sure how we could have gone today!  Thank you Sara!!!!  A thousand times, THANK YOU!

So we took off this afternoon with Aaron and Jodi to Allegan.  After getting coffee (we showed up too early for our appointment) and filling out all of the paperwork, we were ready for our training.  We only had three things to remember and even then I was starting to panic about whether or not I would actually remember what I was supposed to do.  But this is why I’m being strapped to another person, who hopefully knows what they are doing!

We got hooked into our harnesses, boarded the plane, and away we went.  Tim and I got to go up together and our instructors were awesome!  We cruised up to 10,000 feet in a very cramped, very small plane.  I honestly don’t know how 4 grown men can fit in that thing (plus the pilot) because I was hurting about five minutes into the ride up.

After we reached about 9000 feet, the instructors hooked on to us and at 10,000 feet Tim was stepping out onto the little ledge on the plane.  And he was gone!  My turn.  I was amazed at how much effort it took me to step out onto that ledge.  Not because of fear but because of the wind!  I was so glad I didn’t have to hang on for long because I’m not so sure I could have.  After Harley (Instructor) and I were on the ledge I let go and then he rolled us backwards into our free fall.

The free fall was amazing.  Loud.  Windy.  Cold.  Have I mentioned that when we jumped at 10,000 feet that it was only 18 degrees?  Did I mention that it was snowing?  I had ice building up on my goggles during the free fall!  Oh, and that we were “floating” around at 120-140mph?  Yay, that’s pretty fast to have snow flying at your face.

Thirty seconds or so later Harley pulled the cord and we were floating under the canopy.  Amazing! (I am going to use that word a lot here.)  It felt so surreal.  I had absolutely no concept of height or speed or movement.  We were just floating.  Everything below me was so beautiful.  So still.  It wasn’t until we started to do some spins that I felt the speed.  Then we landed and it was over.  I have no idea how long we were up there.  How long we were floating.  But it felt like it went by so fast.  Like waiting in line for a rollercoaster, the anticipation building, and then, after the 2 minute ride, you’re left in awe and wanting to do it again!

The best part was sharing this with Tim.  I got to see him jump and float below me and land.  I am so excited that we got to jump together!

Would I do this again?  Absolutely.  I’m pretty sure I already made that clear.  Although I would go a little earlier in the summer when I wasn’t getting pelted with snow and ice on the way down.  Honestly, though, the feeling I had when we landed on the ground was one of euphoria.  I wanted to do this.  I said I was going to do this.  I did this.  I did this!

Am I going to turn into an adrenaline junkie now?  No, not any more than I already was. But I would jump again.  I hope I get the chance to jump again.  And I do want to put bungee-jumping on the to-do list!

Ok, here is the video of my jump.  I have a shorter video of just the free fall in real time but we’ll just do this one for now!

Skydiving (1) from Stacey Lynn on Vimeo.

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It’s been about 3 months in the making but tomorrow looks like it could actually be the day.  Barring any unforeseen weather issues (which could happen since this is Michigan) or plane malfunctions, I will be jumping from a plane tomorrow afternoon!!!

I’ve wanted to go skydiving for quite some time now and thought it would be a great way to celebrate my 30th birthday.  We were supposed to go two weeks ago but the weather didn’t cooperate.  This time it looks like the weather is going to cooperate.

We are scheduled to jump around 2pm tomorrow so I won’t hold my breath until it actually happens.  Ok, I will probably be holding my breath from the minute we arrive at the airport until an hour or so after we arrive safely back on ground.  I’m so excited but, with the chances of this actually happening coming into reality, I’m starting to get nervous.  It’s a good nervous.

Hopefully I’ll be back on tomorrow to let you all know how it went!!!

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After reading quite a bit about Life Lists from both jodimichelle and Mighty Girl, I’m starting to give more thought to creating a list of my own.

A Life List is just that, a list of things you want to see, do, or accomplish in your lifetime.

So, why not just do it instead of writing about doing it?  What’s holding me back? I guess I’m a bit self-conscious of what my list might look like.  To others.  Trust me, I know how stupid that sounds.  But what if my Life List seems so…pathetic?

Ok, now that we’ve worked through that I think I might just do this.  It will certainly be a work in progress because I’m constantly discovering things I want to do or experience.  Especially when it comes to my girls.  As their personalities develop and their talents and strengths surface, it makes me want to be there when they do things or see things or achieve things.

And, as I discover things about myself, I find new things I want to try and even some old desires surface.

In the upcoming weeks I’ll be working on the starting off point of my Life List.

First up….SKYDIVING!

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while.  I decided that I really wanted to do it to celebrate me jumping into my 30s.  We (Tim, myself, and the amazing Schaaps) are scheduled to jump from a plane tomorrow afternoon, if the weather cooperates.  It almost seems surreal.  I’m not nervous yet because I don’t actually see it happening yet.  I hope it happens.  I don’t want another obstacle standing in my way of crossing this one off the list!

So, what’s on your Life List?  Come on….just tell me one thing!  The craziest thing!  The thing you are most looking forward to or looked forward to if you’ve already crossed it off!

And don’t forget to head over to jodimichelle.com and Mighty Girl to check out their Life Lists.

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