It's all fun & games until your chute doesn't open!

I learned 2 very important lessons yesterday, Sunday, January 6. It was my husbands b-day and I wanted to really WOW him, not with gifts,since we have so much already, but something more meaningful so I had the brilliant idea to take him skydiving. Yes, I actually wanted him to jump out of an airplane, not because I don't love him, but because I knew this was going to be something he'd REALLLY love.....(maybe I should of given him a head's up so he could of at least mentally prepared himself) So we get to this place, he is excited & anxious at the same time, but all of the people getting ready to jump and those who work there are all smiling so I'm thinking it can't be that bad. Anyway, they gear him up, talk him through the important steps, load him up onto the plane and away he goes. Ximena & Matt (my awesome sister in law & her husband) are there so we jump into their car & follow the van to the landing site, except in the process, she notices that one of the parachutes look strange coming down & we pull over. Sure enough, one chute has not fully opened and at this point my whole world comes to a halt...I can't hear anything, I can't feel anything except my stomach in my throat and me trying to not throw up as I watch this chute coming down and Im saying to myself" my husband is going to die" and trying not to freak out. All I could see are the colors , yellow & blue, of the chute which are for first time jumpers(tandem) and in my little world, since everything revolves around my husband, it was him., even though Ximena keeps trying to reassure me that it can be someone else (there were 2 more tandem jumps on that flight) & even then , it's still a fucked up situation. At this point Ximena is running towards the field where this half-ass chute has landing, along with my 16 yr. old and I'm screaming for them to get back in the car as I do not want them to see the mess I can only assume is there of mangled bodies. At that moment a second van stops and the guy tells her it is an empty chute (Whew, wiping my brow, my eyes because I'm about to start crying) and then she points and its Sergio coming down to land, his feet touch the ground and I've never in my life been so happy to see him, not ever, not even when he wasn't able to get off the C.G. cutter & missed Lucas' birth and showed up the next day in the hospital. He gets into the van & we drive back to the skydiving office as he is walking by Ximena he says something to her which I can't hear because my little one is lagging behind and is crabby and doesn't feel like walking( as usual), and she turns to me and says" oh, it was his chute..." and before I can talk to him he is inside changing and all I want to do is wrap myself around him and never let go and finally he steps out and just gives met this look and I start crying from relief and from being so overwhelmed and we just hug for a few minutes and its the best hug I've had in a long time.......Here's what happened: the chute didn't fully open so Glen, the most awesome skydiving instructor ever, cut it loose, they had another couple seconds of free falling, and opened the backup chute, thank god for those small wonders huh?
I am feeling better about it today, I can actually think about it and not feel like crying, but can you only imagine what Sergio felt like when he looked up and realized the parachute didn't open properly? After all he is the one coming down at 120 mph....in the end, he had a little scare, but he is totally amazed and overwhelmed by the whole experience, is already thinking about jumping again (seems like I created a monster) and, is going to start training for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race , it seems that little experience has only boosted his energy and enthusiasm for living, and knowing Serg, I wasn't expecting anything less. So people, here's what I learned yesterday:
1- that I absolutely, deeply, madly and truly, love and adore my husband , and
2- if you don't have wings, stay on the ground, no seriously, have fun & enjoy every single moment with your loved ones, even when you don't like them..........