Cliff diving may seem unusual. Kids will say,“It’s crazy.” or “These people are out of their minds.” Call me crazy and out of my mind because I’ve been cliff diving. Don’t get me wrong, I was terrified. I almost didn’t do it.
Last summer in Lake George, I was with my family when we heard that teenagers were cliff diving. I’m into that stuff. I like taking adventures and doing crazy things like that. I immediately begged to go to this cliff. My brother Joe, 17 years old, and my sister Sabrina, 14 years old, and I were all for throwing our bodies off a 30-foot cliff and praying we land safely into the water. We were not scared at all; my mother on the other hand was nervous and didn’t want us to do it. We didn’t listen to her.
As we rode in the back of my father’s boat I grew nervous. This seemed weird to me but I didn’t let my nerves show. I think my mother knew, but I denied it. As we are riding we saw the cliff from a distance. There are many adults and kids, jumping and laughing. How bad could it be? If my little sister would do it, I would, too. It was cloudy. It looked like it would pour at any second. My dad told us we should turn around and go back. I agreed with him, “Yeah let’s go back.” But my brother and sister insisted on going to the cliff, so we continued the nightmare.
When we arrived, 6-year-old boys and girls (they were probably older) flew off the cliff. If they could do it I totally could do it, at least that’s what I thought. My brother was the first to go. My mother sat in the back of the boat covering her eyes while my father videotaped. Sabrina and I watched. She was so excited she nearly threw me off the boat just to go next. I of course let her. My brother Joe jumps and after he pops out of the water, he screams, “That was sick!”
Sabrina’s next. She waits in a line on top of a cliff. Let me note, there aren’t any lifeguards or authority types directing us to jump. I guess some person climbed to the top and thought it was a good idea to jump. Well they started a trend. A huge thank you to Mr. Fearless, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be sitting in the back of my boat waiting for my turn to cliff dive.
My sister went and loved it. Well, it’s my turn now. I jumped off the back of the boat and swam my way over to the bottom of the cliff. I have little to no upper body strength so getting onto the cliff itself seemed difficult. It was also embarrassing watching the 8-year-old boys fly by me. Once I finally got to the top I saw a man do a front flip. He was out of his mind. I went up to the top and looked down, then immediately looked at my mom. She laughed. She knew I wouldn’t jump. Boy did I prove her wrong; I held my nose, did the sign of the cross and leaped. On the way down I thought that my life was over and that I had just leaped into a pile of boulder rocks. After landing safely into the water I broke the surface and thought it was actually fun. Of course I went up again and again and again. It started to rain; I wanted to stay. I was terrified to cliff dive but after doing it I realized it was one of the best times of my life.
If I would have chickened out and stayed on the boat I would have missed out on an amazing experience. After this I always try to put my fears behind me. Just think of the things you would miss out on if you let fear overcome you.