Sorry that I missed the Friday deadline this week, I was otherwise engaged in the spectator sport of watching my daughter being born! I didn’t think it was a suitable moment to sneak out and write a quick flash fiction!
This story is dedicated to my beautiful wife Lauren and our new bundle of joy Neve 🙂
Parachutist @ Ft Lewis. Public domain photo.
My Parachute
I stand at the precipice, staring into the great unknown. When the journey began all those months ago it didn’t look so high, but now we’ve reached the summit it feels like a long way down to solid ground. There’s no way to know when we will jump, only the certainty that we will. Despite all the preparation, when the moment comes it still feels sudden. There is a push, some screaming, and then we tumble. The horizon spins, there is nothing to grasp, no point to orient ourselves, just momentum to move us along. The descent feels like it will last for eternity, that we will grow old in free fall, that a hard landing is inevitable.
Then I remember I have you. You are my lifeline, my saviour, my parachute. With you I can find stability, land safely, hit the ground running. Wherever the wind takes us, you will guide me. With you I can float, forever safe.
