My jaw dropped recently when one of my line dancing class members,  Johanna de Bruin, told me about her recent skydiving experience. She said that she saw someone on TV skydiving once and ever since then she has wanted to do it. She was beside herself when a friend of hers told her about SkyDance, a premiere Skydiving Training Center located in Davis, California. Johanna immediately called them to schedule a tandem skydive. She was over the top with her excitement! Oh, and by the way, Johanna is eighty years old. Wa-hoo! Check out these photos!

This was a couple of weeks ago, and she is still walking on clouds. Her eyes were lit up with joy as she relayed the details of her jump out of an airplane! She said that it gave her a new lease on life, and she would do it again in a heartbeat. I was blown away by her courage and her zest for living. Go Johanna!

Personally, I have a “thing” about heights. It took me 30 minutes once in Hawaii to work up the nerve to jump off a 20 foot high cliff into water below. I finally did it and it was fun, but the thought of free falling for 30-90 seconds out of an airplane makes my stomach do somersaults.

What an inspiration Johanna is to me and so many others. Clearly, being eighty does not mean that life is over. Thank you Johanna for allowing yourself to fulfill a dream of yours. It must feel so great to mark that item off of your bucket list. Now on to the next grand adventure!

Johanna de Bruin, 80 Years Old and Still Going Strong!

Interested in taking the “leap?” SkyDance has been in operation since 1987, and all of their instructors are USPA rated. As you can see, Johanna highly recommends them. According to their website: “A tandem skydive at SkyDance is the ultimate introduction to skydiving. Whether your goal is to become a United States Parachute Association (USPA) certified skydiver or you just want to give it a try – Skydance Skydiving really is a world-class skydiving center, perfect for your first-time tandem skydive.”  For more info visit www.skydance.net