Luke and Holly were always looking for something new and adventurous to do together since they had met just over a year ago. They didn’t meet on an online dating site, but at Home Depot, when they were in the same isle looking for lighting fixtures for their bathrooms. Holly asked Luke a question about the lighting, and he sarcastically remarked that he didn’t work there. They had a good laugh, which led to Luke giving Holly his business card and asked her to call him if she was interested in meeting for a drink. It took Holly a few weeks, but she finally got her nerve up and called Luke, left him a message and then wondered if he’d call her back. It only took twenty minutes and Holly saw Luke’s name pop up on the front of her smart phone screen.

All of that was over a year ago, and because they’re both empty nesters in their early fifties, they had both made a bucket list of adventurous things to do now that their kids were grown and on their own. Luke was a skydiving instructor, and would take a couple of tandem jumps every day. This is one activity he could never talk Holly into doing. She was afraid of heights and it was a definite “no.” Holly had secretly been living vicariously through Luke’s stories of his student jumpers who swore they’d never do it, and then one day decided to literally “take the plunge.” She wished she could get up the nerve, but always backtracked right before she told Luke she wanted to try it.

Luke loved getting his students together for summer farm to table dinners, where everyone would share their stories about their skydiving adventures. Some only jumped once, and others went on to jumping solo. Holly loved hearing their stories and wished she had one of her own. Luke asked if anyone else had a story to share. Holly unexpectedly jumped out of her seat and told the group she wanted to do her first tandem jump. Luke was shocked when Holly announced that as she grew closer to Luke over this last year, she knew she could do it with him by her side. She was still scared, but willing to make the jump. As they drove home from the dinner that night, Luke probed a little more to see if she was really serious about her decision. She said “absolutely,” and she had made a parallel observation about her faith in God, and her ability to trust Luke in their tandem skydiving. She explained that as she grew closer to God, she was willing to put herself out there more, take chances in the areas God was directing her, and be an example to others. She told Luke as she had grown closer to him, she felt she could trust him because he knew how to do it, and would guide her through it.

Holly went on to explain to Luke her process of evaluating her life since she had met him, and that writing down her bucket list of adventures was a catalyst for writing down her spiritual goals and how God may want her to serve in their local community. She wanted the two of them to prioritize and assess ways they could make an impact for others, just like they’d written down their list of adventures on their bucket list. Although their bucket list was full of exciting adventures, she wanted to have experiences that were equally inspiring in serving others and hoped Luke would participate along with her.

She recognized what a great outlet skydiving was and she needed to be more intentional about putting these things on her calendar. Her relationship with Luke had been teaching her a new type of trust that she wanted to learn to rely on with other friends and family. Susan was realizing wealth isn’t just about money, but wealth is in a belief system and how you can impact others. Seeing other’s experiences were valuable to her. She wanted to live as if she only had “today” to experience life and she knew trusting Luke with a skydiving jump was her first step.

Plan, Invest, Live™

Adam