Marie Kondo, I’ve got this. Ms. Kondo, you’ll surely know, is the queen of the organized lifestyle, urging us all to tidy up our lives and rid ourselves of things that don’t spark joy. I’ve got so much clutter in my life that I’ve inverted the solution. I’m concentrating on things that do spark joy and saving the junk for later.
Paul,
Thank you for sharing the story of your participation in the record breaking, 400 person skydive. I have never jumped but lived and flown in close proximity of Skydive Chicago outside of Dayton, IL for a long time. I have witnessed many mass migration skydives trying to wrap my brain around the logistics, skill, and true team functionality it requires to safely and successfully do what you and, in this case, 400 others have done. Amazing and astounding are two words to describe what I personally have seen. I believe these words do not convey these thoughts anywhere near your experiences, especially in the record jump in Thailand.
“I’m concentrating on things that do spark joy and saving the junk for later.” No offense to Ms. Kondo. However, I think you have the right order of things. I am glad you are concentrating on things that do spark joy for you. Keep doing those very things. Your ultramarine blue, draggy, jumpsuit is merely a collection of cloth pieces sown together to create a skydiving suit. But that collection of cloth, is not just an inanimate “thing”, it is a tangible connection to your past. And some of those past experiences, did and continue to spark joy in your soul. I am happy you didn’t let Ms. Kondo’s organizational skills decide that your ultramarine blue jumpsuit end up at Goodwill. Otherwise, that ultramarine jumpsuit might have been tossed causing you to not reflect on your record breaking participation, that quite possibly in a way, might have never been shared with me and other AvWeb readers. We all would have missed a poignant moment in time for you, as well as, knowing important details of this event for us.
For me, old airplanes, old cars, old tools, old clothes, old books, old motorcycles, etc…have a story to tell. Who built them? Who used them? Can they be useful today? What are the memories of the people whose hands have previously touched these inanimate objects? What part of history did these people influence?
And if these inanimate articles are continued to be resurrected, restored, or allowed to be used today, can they be a positive influence on our throwaway society with the stories contained within them? And can my use of them add to their stories as well as my own? I believe so.
While, it is impractical to keep everything, I am glad you have kept your ultramarine blue jumpsuit…for you and for me. I think you can safely throw away your Fruit-of- the-Loom underwear that was beneath the ultramarine jumpsuit. That way, we benefited from the jumpsuit and you have kept Ms Kondo’s joy of organizational simplicity alive as well.
“it will be just like the 2006 record was; a hell of a thing.” Yes, it was. And yes it is! Thank you for sharing.
Simply amazing!
What an astonishing feat. This was uplifiting to read about, thank you.
Wow!
?♂️?
Great article, Paul. This and your companion Making-Of article are all-time classics.
Do you ever get the suit out and try it on? Every year or so, I get my old skydiving gear out and put it on–it’s a memento and memory-jogger of what I used to do. Stupid-silly, but it makes me feel good for the same reasons that I have restored my old cars and bought back and restored the Cessna 120 I bought in 1964.
These objects, and what we did together, are part of who we are.
Try it on? Hell, I use it. Since it’s a slow suit, I sometimes need it for larger formations. Now that I’ve dropped 27 pounds, I can probably use my regular fast suit.