There’s a phenomenon in skydiving that I like to refer to as mystery wounds.
Your body is in near perfect condition when you exit the plane, but 14,000 feet later you’re bruised, sore or bleeding, and you have no idea why.
You think back through the skydive, did you hit the plane on the way out? No, I don’t think so. Anything out of the ordinary in free fall? Nope, pretty routine. Hard opening perhaps? Not really.
So then why is my finger bleeding profusely?
Of course, we can’t forget about those days when we come home and see the latest bruises that mysteriously appear.
For the about three weeks another jumper and I had matching bruises on the inside of our left knee. It was a huge, deep bruise. Neither of us had any idea how we could have acquired it.
Maybe it’s a newbie thing, but I’ve ended up with multiple bumps, bruises, cuts and soreness that are a complete mystery.
Secretly though, I kind of enjoy my little war wounds. (Shh, don’t tell.) They’re conversational pieces if nothing else.
(#1 – Mysterious skin missing incident from this weekend. That knuckle had skin before I jumped! #2 – The not-so-mysterious elbow injury of jump 11. Canopy stall and hard landing. #3 – Bruised knees after my first AFF jump and ground school. Climbing in and out of a wooden Cessna for six hours of practice takes is toll on your knees. And those are just a few of the wounds I’ve captured on film.)
As a friend said this weekend, I don’t want to go to my grave in a perfect body. I want it to be scraped and scratched to know I lived a full, active life.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
What mystery wounds have you ended up with in the past?
Blue Skies!
Ashley
tazmwl 
