PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

A Smile Speaks More Than a Thousand Words

Week 99 of the photographic documentary of my daily life

Yes, we all go to work to earn money. But then there is a different kind of reward I get on a daily basis which doesn’t pay any bills but makes me a happier person.

The smile of a happy passenger.

Nothing can beat a smile that comes from within. Taking people far out of their comfort zone when jumping out of a plane with them is a mentally and physically challenging job. But as people get scared, nervous, and excited they show their true feelings.

And most of the time it’s their prettiest smile.

What should I say? I make people smile. Even though not everyone sees it that way but I haven’t forced anyone yet and won’t do it ever. They decide to jump out of a plane. And then I make sure they’re having a good time while doing so.

It doesn’t matter what language they speak or nationality they have. The language of happiness is everywhere the same. And seeing a happy customer makes me smile too.

Here we go. If you read last week’s photo essay you know we flew to Portugal for a student training course. Together with a friend from the UK, we took three students to the skies.

This guy had just passed his AFF course which is the first step toward your skydiving license when I then did a coaching jump. I taught him a different exit and was linked with him. He looked serious in the door but seconds after leaving the plane I was gifted with this heart-warming smile of his.

Yes, I love my job. Making people happy is fun.

And after a successful jump, I watched him land too. On the dry grass of the Portuguese soil.

Friday was our last day with the students. We had to fly out to be back at work in Germany on Saturday. Another weekend at work ahead.

We stayed with the group until lunchtime before we had to say goodbye and get in the car to drive back to Lisbon.

We were taking the toll road leading us across a beautiful and very long bridge toward the city of Lisbon. I asked my husband to take a picture of the scenery while I was driving.

We had booked cheap tickets and didn’t pay extra for choosing seats. I was a bit disappointed about not having a window seat especially since we could witness a breathtaking sunset.

However, I leaned over the other passenger once asking him if I could take one photograph of the stunning scenery. The sunset was surely spectacular. This was when I took the title image.

We landed late at night, hopped into our car, and drove back to the trailer park. It was past midnight when we arrived. At about 1 am I was in bed after a quick shower.

At 7 am the alarm was ringing and work was calling.

We flew from one work to another and were back in the sky.

While we had rather moderate temperatures in Portugal we suffered this Saturday in Germany. The temperatures were above 30 degrees and I was sweating from morning until evening. Clouds didn’t help but just added humidity.

Sunday was another day at work. At hot one. The temperatures were above 30 degrees Celsius (90°F) and I was doing 9 jumps that day. It was exhausting, to say the least.

Somewhere during the morning, I got assigned to jump with a 14-year-old boy. I’m not a fan of jumping with children for various reasons. I’ve seen and experienced enough from parents forcing their child to jump out of a plane to parents not telling us their child had a cold and seeing the poor child crying due to intense pain in the ears.

So, yes. I have my precautions. I ask the child whose idea it was to jump when the mom isn’t around. I double-check on any kind of sicknesses and I make sure both parents do know their child is jumping out of a plane.

I know, the parents all signed the waiver but you don’t get it. I’m telling you, parents can be crazy.

However, this boy was different. He was smiling at me from the moment I introduced myself. He was a happy child and knew what he was getting into. He wanted to skydive for over a year already so yes, he really wanted to jump.

We were sitting in the very back of the plane as I usually do in case the child freaks out and doesn’t want to jump then I can stay inside the plane without being in anyone’s way.

But that wasn’t the case. Instead, I asked the pilot to drop the plane to the side the moment we’d be sitting at the door. It’s an easy exit for us and fun for costumer being “kicked” out of the plane that way.

This was when I took the below picture. I have many better shots of the great smile of this boy during freefall but I don’t want to share his face here. Yes, the parents gave the permission to use his photographs but it’s against my own rules.

Instead, you’ll just have to imagine the boy’s smile. While falling at 200kph.

A heart-warming smile that comes from within.

Monday. Finally, time to get some rest after two weeks of working non-stop.

Don’t ask me what I did.

I woke up at 6 am, did a load of laundry, and did the dishes.

Why?

I went back to bed and tried to sleep again until 8ish. It was hot. Very hot.

I did two more loads of laundry that morning and went to town to do grocery shopping. It’s our only off day and the only day we have time to go to the shops. Our grocery stores open at 8 am and close at the latest at 9 pm. We don’t get out of work before 10 pm sometimes…

But then I was ready. Ready for some me-time.

By now we had 36°C (97°F) in the shade. At 5 pm.

I got in the car and drove to the lake. I just swam a bit in the cooling water and then relaxed in my favorite hammock. Napping on and off between reading Medium stories.

Tuesday we had to be back at work but were lucky. The plane was in for a maintenance check-up and would only be back by 3 pm.

We used the spare time to drive down to the Ruppiner See. My husband didn’t feel like kayaking so we just pumped up my paddleboard and made our way out on the water together. We swam, we paddled, and visited a family of swans on the shoreline.

I counted 5 swanlings or cygnets, how I am supposed to call them.

There was also a big group of ducks who all flew off when I paddled too close for their comfort.

Summer is in full swing and it’s not just us who are excited about the warmer weather. Bugs, bees, and all kinds of insects are buzzing around.

In front of our trailer is a lovely smelling lavender bush. The scent isn’t just attracting my nose but countless butterflies as well. I’ve spotted at least six different species and taken countless photographs. Too many to share in the photo-a-day challenge but I’ll publish them in a separate post.

For you today the majestic European peacock or commonly known as just peacock butterfly.

This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.

Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian

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