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I decided to write about the King and the Cancer man simply because of one thing. Life is…… life is constantly talking to us. And the quicker you learn to listen, is the sooner life blooms into your dreams.

So I was at the drop zone hoping to catch a flight on a plane….. My goal? To jump out of a perfectly great working plane. And do it at 10,000 feet. Why? Catching dreams baby, catching dreams!

Today, I didn’t expect to learn anything except self practice of my skydiving skills while hurling to the earth at 160 miles per hour. Each time I jump, I get roughly 30 seconds in the air to try and learn something about how to skydive better while gravity pulls me to the earth like a child running to it’s mother. And for me, because I’m such a novice at this sport, there’s so much that I have yet to learn, all within 30 seconds. The pace is slow, and the adrenaline sometimes creates a blur, but the body always….. and I mean always feels the rush.

So as I was saying, I was at the drop zone and  I was sitting at a table waiting for time on the plane as one of the instructors yells “hey Max, there’s King.” Who is King you might ask? Well, King is supposedly a well respected skydiver who used to be an instructor and also does play time at ifly. He supposedly is someone who can possibly help me better understand my lack of technique in the sky. Needless to say I am a man and sometimes find it hard to ask for help. It’s probably one of the many reasons why I have taken so long to wake up to the ways to attain my dreams. But since King was already here I said why not introduce myself to him and hope for the best. So I got up and walked around to the front of the building and there was a man that was not quite what I pictured with the name of King. Mentally I expected a very strong framed man with the look of someone who has always dominated life. But as I cornered the building what I ran into was a tall lanky 6 foot ish, man. He wore black framed geeky glasses and from the looks they were not any name brand or fancy in any way or form, he was a smoker and wore simple clothes. So simple that you wouldn’t even notice that he existed in a crowd of people. If you saw him in public you would say that he was a tall, older, over the hill has been nerdy type of guy. This is where I would have to say….. God’s most beautiful gifts are never always how we expect them to be. (Just that sentence alone is a really great lesson to cement in your head)

None the less, I introduced myself and told him my story of needing his help. And without skipping a beat, his reply was “yeah, sure, not a problem”.  We then sat and talked for at least over half an hour. I learned that this completely inconspicuous tall lanky 4 eyed human being, that nobody would probably notice sitting at a bus stop, I learned that this man who’s last name is King….. That he, when it comes to skydiving, has the knowledge of a deity. And that he was able to paint visual pictures for me that rivaled Picasso’s best pieces. This man has been skydiving for over 20 years and has done over 7000 jumps. It was just simply amazing to listen to him mentally draw visual outlines about the mechanics of what the body is doing in the air and what it’s like to land a parachute. He was able to get devilishly technical about things but then in the same sentence also able to dumb it down for me so that even an idiot could easily picture and grasp the technical concept. What I liked best about Mr. King was that during our conversation not only did I ask him about specific issues pertaining to my lack of skydiving skills, but I also asked about his life with skydiving. I learned that it took over 300 jumps before he finally lost the fear of being in the plane. I was baffled….300 jumps! WTF! That’s a lot of jumps and it takes a long time to get to 300 jumps. Being so damn curious, I asked “What was the hand that turned the switch? What was it that changed at 300? And why 300 and  not 200 or even 100? What was it mentally that made that switch turn over to lose that fear?” His reply… “I finally had faith in my gear and in my skydiving skills.” Sounds pretty simple, but you see, when you jump out of a perfectly good working plane, your brain is constantly screaming at you……”YOU MOTHERFUCKER WHAT THE F&$K ARE YOU DOING!!! YOUR GONNA DIE!!” Then your brain kicks in every bell and whistle in your body to make you push against your inner will and drive and try to suppress your own personal beliefs and wants. I can now personally understand why it took 300. I just hope that with mentors like him that it won’t take me 300.

So in the end, and I can’t remember how it started, or what it was specifically that we were talking about but somewhere within our conversation I was finally able to understand why he had the painting skills of Picasso and the technical knowledge of Elon Musk. The secret to his amazing magical powers was laced and fused into 6 simple words that he said…..He said “I just want to give back“.

It’s like a bomb blew in my head. It just blew me away. If there is one thing you will learn about me, besides me wanting and expecting to be a multi millionaire, it’s the fact that I will never, I mean NEVER be a better person if I don’t continually attempt to give to others all that I have learned. Everybody has said it, from Gandhi to Oprah, Mother Teresa to Tony Robbins, and practically every other successful person. Even the likes of Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Navian James, Peter Diamondis and Bill Gates (Just to name a few) have all said those exact same words. So to hear this simple man wanting to help anyone who wants to learn the beauty, skills and what skydiving has done for him mentally, is amazing. I give him much props and now know why God gave him the last name of King. T.Y.

So after my talk with Mr. King one of the instructors yelled, “Max hurry up your about to miss the plane.” I have been waiting all day for this moment, I wasn’t about to miss my only opportunity to to touch the clouds. I shook King’s hand and promised to keep in touch, I then ran and grabbed my gear and hustled to put my gear together and then did one final gear check to ensure everything was in it’s place.

Here’s the picture……a super tiny plane, with an interior that barely fits 4 people and a pilot. A sardine can for humans. And this is with all the seats and amenities gutted (except for the pilots seat). So with this in mind, picture this, 4 men pile into this tiny little space like teen girls at a Justin Bieber concert. It’s 2 instructors, me and a man who has never jumped before. It’s not uncommon for me to pile into that tin can with someone who has never skydived before. It is actually quite common. But today was different.

I walked by him several times as one of the instructors was debriefing him on how the jump was going to go and what to expect. Personally I thought nothing of it. I was too consumed with the fact that I got to the drop zone at noon and had to sit around till 5pm to jump. (Good thing I met King)

So it was time. The pilot began heading to the plane and then one by one like little ducklings, we all followed in suite. Once in the plane, you can feel the strong breeze from the propellers spinning and the roar of the engine as the plane began its journey down the runway. Lift off, and to me, everything was quite normal and copacetic. I double check my altimeter to ensure that it was zeroed out. Now this is where it gets tough to write, and not because I can’t remember the events, but instead, because of the event itself. I have yet to learn how to paint this with words.

We are somewhere about 4000 feet heading to 10,000. The flight time to 10k is about 15 minutes. And so I am sitting literally shoulder and hip next to the man who has never tandem (term used for skydiving with instructor attached to you). I can hear him and one of the instructors talking. I don’t pay much attention because I am in my own mind. I’m looking out the window focusing on what I need to do in the air, and I am also talking to God and giving thanks for all I have. Giving thanks to those who I care for deeply and thanks for those who cause me pain and strife. It’s quite a spiritual moment for me during that ride.

But back to the guy sitting next to me. Out of the blue I heard something about K-mart for 15 years, and then something about his work history. At that point I stopped my mental thoughts and listened in, hell, gotta remember I am literally almost sitting on top of this guy. We’re so close to each other that you can literally feel one another’s thoughts. So out of the blue this guy says….”So they stuck a camera up my ass”. At that point, I dialed in and thought….”What did he just say?”. I think any human would naturally stop dead in their thoughts and wonder….WTF? This man, who we will call William, is about 3 inches above 6 feet tall and probably weighed closer to 260lbs. His hair was salt peppered and styled in a short buzz cut. He had the face of a man that wasn’t always happy. Now that I think about it, as I come to remember, before piling into the plane the instructor took a picture of William standing outside of the plane, the instructor said “William point your finger to the sky and smile” William then pointed his finger to the sky and ……. well he didn’t smile. Instead he said “This is as good as it’s gonna get”. I thought that was odd, but then again, I remember my first time…. I was shitting bricks. But yeah, now it all makes sense.

“So they stuck a camera up my ass”…. I couldn’t help but stop and listen. He paused. His face even more dead looking than when he took that pic outside of the plane…. His next words….. “They said I have colon cancer”. His eyes, I could see, everything in him working so hard to hold back the tears. You know, it’s this thing when you are climbing to 10,000 feet to jump out of a plane and you are literally breathing the same air in a tiny little closet called a plane and the guy next to you, not only shitting bricks about dying because he may not survive the plane jump, then says that he is doing this because he is already going to die. You can just see it in his eyes. The red veins just doing everything possible to hold back the tears as you can see the water filling the edges of his eyes. You can see the eyebrows look more painful and the smile….. there just wasn’t one.

At that point I stuck my hand out, reached over above his knee and said, “My name is Max”. Idk,  I just had to know his name. I just had to shake his hand. It’s just not that often that I share that type of moment with someone. Like I said it’s really, really hard to explain this moment. The guy could literally die on this jump (highly unlikely, but still possible) It’s that fear factor that worries us. It’s a big ball of God, life, happiness, personal wants, desires, and all our thoughts that keep us attached to this world. Hell remember, even I, before listening to his conversation was doing my own personal spiritual connection.

So he shook my hand. We talked more, he said that this (skydiving) is something that he had always wanted to do… (he never said before he dies), but for some reason his face just seemed to say it all, and his forced smile just seemed to cement words that he did not need to say. It was truly bittersweet. By this time, we were about to hit 10k and I had to prep and get into position to jump. Today I was going to be the first out of the plane. We all do the skydivers handshake and then moments later the door flys open, a bullet of air enters the plane and hits you like a freight train. (Wakes you the fuck up that’s for sure!) That’s my cue, I head to the door, put my right foot out on wheel step, thrust my right hand out to grab the wing strut, then left foot and finally left hand. I’m now standing outside of the plane at 10,000 feet. Take a deep breath, mentally pause and then let go.

That day wasn’t just about what I did in the air for those 30 seconds, I didn’t even talk about that, but instead today was about remembering the importance of giving back. Remembering that life is short. Remembering that we are all beautiful souls trying to live a human life. Mr. King taught me that to be great takes time, takes patience, takes endurance, and most of all you must always find ways to keep your passion alive, no matter what life throws at you, even if its cancer.

To Mr. King and William, Thank you for today,

Max.

I shook his hand and said “thank you for sharing a plane with me.” This will be the last time I see him. When I first met him I never intended to shake his hand. Hell, I never intended to say more than hi. But when you skydive, you learn alot about life. (At least I do). To day I met King. He was defineatley not the king that I expected.

So I have been having trouble learning technique