WHEN a member of my family turns 50, he or she is obliged to jump off a plane in a parachute. It’s a family sport of skydiving, you might say. And the obligation is sacred.
By JAIME K PIMENTEL
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So when offspring No 4, Martin ‘Kelly’, turned 50 on March 11, 2015, he jumped. But, being the good family man that he is, Kelly insisted that his faithful wife Jane jump for her life, too.
After a series of meticulous preparations on the ground, up they went over the blue yonder in the southern skies of Sydney.
Kelly, not necessarily the braver of the couple, jumped first. With his trainer strapped at Kelly’s back, of course. Jane followed with her trainer, possibly to watch over her husband’s descent.
Plummeting down at 120km an hour, Kelly couldn’t resist a selfie. Just look at the smile he forced just show us later that he wasn’t scared.
Welcoming him back to earth were his brothers Ben, Mike, Marcelino and Simon as sister Sunshine. “Your’re next,” he happily announced to Marcelino, offspring No 5, who turns 50 next year.
And so it goes. Three more offspring to turn 50.
Maybe bungee-jumping at 60?
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PICTURES
Top: Kelly Pimentel does a selfie on his way down to earth.
Lower: Jane Pimentel, at left, on safe ground, prepares to give her husband Kelly, right, a birthday hug.
