Friendship that endures

About a year ago I mentioned to my fellow ELP facilitators that I was considering doing a skydive.  Maybe the question was raised why or as my brother put it why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good plane.  Well actually I hate flying and better out of the plane than in it, I think.
The idea to  skydive had been sparked by a conversation that I had with the grocery delivery man.  He was in his late twenties - full of enthusiasm and willing to give life ago.   He had traveled,  worked at many different jobs, had wonderful life experiences and was passionate to keep finding new challenges in his career and sporting life.  His get up and go attitude spoke volumes to me - so the idea was birthed.  My question was what could I do that pushed me well out of my comfort zone.  With a fear of heights and planes skydiving certainly fitted the bill.
Back to the ELP facilitators and their thoughts - well - encouraging yes, that's the way it is within ELP we would always encourage one another to follow our dreams and aspirations, supportive yes but strangely enough no one wanted to join me.  After our meeting had finished I was driving back to Tauranga and I got a texted from Gill.  I cannot remember her exact words but it was something like, "I will". 
Well that had cemented the idea  - we were going to skydive.  It seems like a long time ago now that we first agreed, but finally the day arrived and we jumped.  Both of us incredibly fearful of heights and me particularly worried about planes but it was a matter of feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

When we met our skydiving partners (tandem dive) they asked if Gill and I were friends or was this a team building effort.  I replied well the skydive was my idea so I guess we will see if we are still friends after today's jump.  Gill and I both loved the experience so needless to say we are still friends and work colleagues.
It was the kindness of Gill in joining with me and facing our fears together that made the day so extraordinary.  I am not sure if I would have been brave enough to go it alone.  I think we both felt like we had conquered the world last Saturday, we had certainly conquered our fear.