I can’t believe one of the three guys in this video is my friend Doug Garr. I’ve written about him before in DigiDame, but after I saw this video on Facebook the other day, I had to ask him again why he jumps out of airplanes from 3,000 feet.

“You can’t imagine the high you get when you first jump,” said Doug. “It’s the most euphoric feeling. You realize that you are one of a very few people on earth that gets to experience this exhilaration.”

Doug has jumped 1,630 times. He is in his late 60s and plans to keep jumping as long as he is healthy. Doug jumps with another guy who is 88 years old. He said the most difficult thing about jumping is experiencing a hard landing. You don’t want to hurt yourself. Young guys are so confident that they jump in flip flops.”

Doug said he absolutely loves jumping. It has been a great hobby. When he is not jumping, Doug is a caregiver for his wife. One would think that he wouldn’t want to do something as dangerous as jumping out of planes under his circumstances.

His answer? “It’s not as dangerous as you think. We have backups for everything. We spend a tremendous amount of time going over all of the precautions. We leave nothing for chance. Everyone looks out for each other. It’s a lot safer than you think.”

I really understand what Doug is talking about even though I have trouble watching the video. I feel like I’m falling out of my chair. I guess I should stay on the ground.