On Christmas Eve we were walking on the Kona Pier on the Big Island of Hawaii, watching a pack of spinner dolphins jumping in the air when my son Jesse announced to our daughter Alice:

“We’re going skydiving tomorrow.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I found a place on-line, it’s called Big Island Gravity and I signed us up. Tomorrow’s the day.”

“Skydiving on Christmas? Are you crazy? There’s a place open on Christmas? What time?”

“At eight in the morning.”

“What? Why so early?”

“It’s the only time. You gotta do it with me. You promised.”

“All right, all right.”

###

This skydiving idea began when Jesse was 11 years old. One day he said,

“When I’m old enough I want to parachute out of a plane.”

“Really? Why?”

“I just want to do it. I think it would be really cool. And Alice, you have to promise to go with me?”

“What do you mean? Why?”

“Because you just have to. It will be fun. Come on promise you’ll do it with me.”

Being the great big sister she is, she said, “OK, I will. But you’re going to owe me big time. ”

###

We found out you need to be 18 years old to sky dive. So Jesse waited for seven years. When he turned 18, every time we visited Hawaii he’d say, “Let’s go skydiving!”

But something would come up and it wouldn’t happen.

But in December of 2021 the stars aligned, the signs were unmistakable——skydiving on Christmas day for our kids! Jesse’s Christmas present to himself.

We drove up to the north end of the Big Island up the Kohala coast toward the little town of Hawi, looking out at the vast expanse of volcanic rock under puffy white clouds. We took a left turn and headed straight down a rocky hill for the ocean.

“Why do we have to do this at 8 in the morning?” Alice asked.

“The web site said in the afternoon it can really get windy. You can be blown into the ocean. “

Now, that didn’t sound promising at all. In fact, it sounded positively ominous.

We arrived at the site: Big Island Gravity.

On a short runway running parallel to the ocean, stood a small and dinged up little airplane, the one that would take our two kids up 10,000 feet and drop them out of the sky. It looked too small and battered to defy gravity, like an old Rambler with wings.

We looked around for an office and saw a rusting shipping container, with chipped blue paint and that turned out to be the Big Island Gravity’s headquarters.

A woman about 30, with wild curly hair, wearing a dirty white T-shirt and no shoes greeted us.

“Hi, I’m Sherry. You’re Jesse? How’s it goin’? You’re next up, after two other guys come down.”

Turns out Sherry managed this skydiving operation.

“How did you start working here?” I asked.

“Oh, I did a couple jumps and thought it was fun and started helping, then the manager quit and they needed someone and Bam! I’m the new manager.”

I thought, “Nothing like a fully trained professional to drop people out of an airplane.”

Behind Sherry, in the shadows, her assistant untangled the parachutes. He sported a mangy Mohawk hairdo, tattoos and a nose ring. He looked like a combination of Quasimodo and Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. He didn’t mutter a word. He just stared straight ahead, seething with anger.

It was a gorgeous Hawaii morning, brilliant sun and the soft trade winds blowing.

I looked at Alice, who was pacing around. “How are you feeling about this ?

“Are you kidding? I’m freaking out! I can’t believe we’re doing this. It’s crazy.”

“How about you Jesse? How are you feeling? Are you scared?”

“No. It’s going to be fun.”

We could hear the little plane then we spotted it high above us. Shortly after, two parachutes came drifting down. One landed and a long- haired guy came bounding over with his eyes bugging out.

“What did you think?”

“It was awesome! At first when my buddy jumped out of the plane I thought, ‘This is insane!’ But once I fell out it was fantastic.”

Soon after, Jesse, Alice and their experienced parachute mates started walking to the little plane. Alice looked back to us, with a worried half-smile. Jesse just grinned.

There was only one seat for the pilot and our kids and their jump mates had to sit on the floor. As the plane took off I was thinking,

“This is the same guy who used be afraid of his own shadow when he was little. He would hardly make a peep. It took him a long time to emerge from his turtle shell of protection.

“But when he was seven he began wearing a Superman cape and jumping off the couch at his grandma’s house saying “I’m not afraid of anything!”

“It was as if that Superman cape held a certain magic that gave him courage and confidence. He morphed into a daredevil supreme. We’d go to the river, and he’d find high rocks to jump off. He’d ride the scariest rides at the county fair. That cape seeped into his subconscious and changed him.”

Then we saw one of the parachutes floating down and as it neared the ground my spirit began lifting up. I felt as if our kids’ courage and daring were defeating gravity and doubt in my own soul, I was floating up there with them and I’m sure my wife Gayle was drifting up there, too.

Jesse hit the ground and stumbled over to us, dazed and laughing.

“What did you think?”

“It was great! It almost didn’t seem real because we were falling so fast. Then the guy pulled the parachute open and I could see the whole coast and the volcano. It was so beautiful.”

Then Alice ran over.

“Oh my god when Jesse jumped out I thought, ‘I’m gonna die!!’ I was screaming my brains out until the parachute opened. Then it was unbelievable. You know what the guy said as we were walking to the plane — ‘Hey, do you think the parachute will open?’”

I said, “What?”

“He just started laughing. ‘I’m kidding’.”

We drove away from Big Island Gravity and Christmas Day unfolded in Hawaii. We could see snow on Mauna Kea and yet it was 82 degrees and sunny at sea level. We drove to our favorite beach, Kua, body surfed in those crashing waves, lounged in the sun and time just flowed in that heavenly Hawaii way as all the many troubles and complications of the world disappeared for just a little while. Our beautiful daredevil children were glowing as they laid out on the warm sand.

I sipped a drink of cold water and I swear it felt like a drink from the Fountain of Youth. Or maybe it was really from the Fountain of Courage.