July 24, 2004

• If All Your Friends Jumped Off a Bridge Would You?

        I grew up in a small trailer park in Johnstown, PA and my friends and I during the summer would go swimming in a small hole that was filled with ice cold running spring water about a mile down the road.  We called this little summer haven "the swimming hole".  In the summer of 1997 we were having the hottest summer of my life, and my friends, boyfriend, and I decided to go for a swim.  We were all having fun dunking one another when Rob announced that he was going to jump off the bridge above us into the water.  This bridge is about ten feet high and the water, though we didn't know at the time is about five and a half feet deep.  We tried to talk Rob out of it but he was persistent and climbed up the stony embankment.  Everyone got out of the water for Rob's spectacular feat.  His back was up against the guardrail and he ran the little distance between that guardrail and the edge of the bridge and leaped into the air into the water feet first.  He shined a golden smile of victory at us and this began the chain of us bridge jumping.  

       I wasn't going to jump, I thought everyone was crazy for doing it, but my best friend Tracey asked me if she jumped would I.  Being that we've been best friends since we were five and knowing Tracey has an innate fear of heights I told her sure.  Big mistake.  My height fearing friend had the best leap and landing out of the whole group.  I stood on the side in awe and after getting over the initial shock that it was now my turn I made my way up on top of the bridge. 

      I was shaking all over and to make matters worse my boyfriend was watching me.  Now there was no turning back.  I took a deep breath, pushed myself off the guardrail, ran off the bridge, fell like a baby laying in a cradle, and splashed in the water below.  What my friends didn't see was when I made contact with the water, my head made contact with a rock and my back scraped along the bed.  Once I broke the surface of the water again, my hand shot up to my throbbing head and I shouted out that I hit the bottom and hard.

     My back was scraped up and I ended up with a goose egg on the back of my head that lasted for almost a month.  The worst wasn't over, now I had to tell my parents why their daughter that they raised to have common sense jumped off a bridge and almost killed herself in the process.  My parents were disappointed in and me and told me to never do a stunt like that again.  I told them I wouldn't, and since that day I haven't jumped off a bridge since. 

     I was shy of fifteen when this occurred and still during my remaining teen years my mother popped the question, "If all your friends were to jump off a bridge would you?"  I would look at her with my biggest grin and laugh out, "You know it!"

   

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