This was the most ridiculous thing I had ever done. I prepared myself for the plunge, the glider in position. I still couldn’t believe I was talked into doing this. I gazed down at the valley, the trees painted amber and gold. Before any doubts entered my mind, I ran toward the edge and jumped. All I saw was a black curtain, covering a light of gold from view. It took me a while before I realized that I had my eyes closed when my feet left the earth. When my eyelids finally parted, the image in front of me caused my breath to hold.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The valley was moving below me, crawling towards me. I looked up, and the clouds danced above me, in a symphony of orange, yellow, and black. I could not believe it, I was flying, the birds underneath me being proof of that. I stared at the horizon, willing it to bring itself to me. The sun to my right, cast my shadow upon the golden trees. I could faintly see it, following me towards the distant mountains up ahead. The wind washed over me, whispering sweet-nothings into my ears. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to cherish this memory forever.
I looked down on the river below me, its golden light slowly turning to black as the sun crept down. I still could not believe that I was actually doing this. My mind began to recreate the many different writings of nature that I have read. One man stood out among the rest, Walt Whitman. As I watched the world slowly creep closer to me, I remembered one excerpt Whitman, my favorite one from him, in fact. Feeling pleased with myself, I sounded my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world. Unfortunately, the yawp jolted my mind back to reality. I had forgotten the most important question about hang-gliding.
How could I have been so stupid? I berated myself for the fool that I was. The scenery of gold and amber flames below me, and the painted skies above me wiped my memory like a window. The earth sliding under me had mesmerized me and made me a hypnotized zombie. The world below me made me forget the ultimate question: How do I land this thing?