The nightmare fall

Last night I had a scary dream about my upcoming day trip to go bungee jumping. Most of the time I don’t recall much of dreams, especially if I sleep well. I am looking forwards to that this fall, as supposedly I will soon be able to reserve a time in September or possibly October. But in the dream, almost everything went wrong. I was in the process of getting ready for my jump, along with some other people. But once we got out on the platform the sky darkened and the winds picked up. A big storm was rolling in, and we had to retreat to a sheltered area to wait it out. The whole dream had an ominous feel to it, and the rain began to pour as lightning flashed and thunder boomed. As we waited, I had to go to the bathroom and I had to get out of my harness and ended up walking a long way in the rain to find a bathroom. Then I came back and the storm was pretty much gone and they put my jumping harness back on. There was a guy who was to jump before me, and he did. But in this dream there was a trapdoor and the man stood on it and down he when they opened it. It became really scary at this point because I knew I was next. But once the jumper was let down from the platform into a boat and taken away to the water’s edge, part of the tower collapsed and fell into the water. The dream pretty much ended there, but it left me with a creepy feeling and it was still on my mind when I woke up later this morning.

Any fear I might have about bungee jumping would have nothing to do with what I am jumping off of failing, but rather what will be catching and breaking my fall. And of course, the fear of jumping off of something really high up. In reality, there is little more danger than riding a roller coaster. I suppose I must have also been thinking of the Key Bridge and somehow my mind conflated it with the jump tower (which is being built now).

I am still looking forwards to it, and I hope I don’t freeze due to fear when it’s my turn to take the leap. That would be behavior most unbecoming of a coaster enthusiast! This entire endeavor will be for me a highly realistic simulation of facing (and surmounting) the potentially deadly railing of a monstrous bridge. It will be not unlike when I was a child while on safari in Kenya I came face to face with many dangerous animals on their turf. But of course, my family and I were in the relative safety of a vehicle, protected from direct exposure to such creatures. To face, and go beyond the monster bridge’s death edge is now an experience within my grasp but with almost no chance of serious injury or death. I will have challenged the monster, if only in spirit. I just wish I was able to make my first bungee jump from an actual bridge as that would provide a slightly more realistic situation.