Paradoxical Skydiving Reflections

My friend from Hubcap City has adventures wherever he goes! For example, on his way home to Atlanta after visiting us the other day, as he writes: "About ten miles out of Birmingham, I wound up trapped at a gas station. My gas tank was empty and I couldn’t drive any farther, but I couldn’t buy any gas because the gas station power had been knocked out by the tornadoes. Absent electricity, the gas pumps were all dead. I had to wait in the parking lot until the gas station hooked up their backup generator. Six hours of waiting later, I was back on the road... I met a lot of nice people in the parking lot. One guy told me all about his fraternal twin (who is a felon but still his mother’s favorite) and the time they went skydiving. 'It’s almost impossible to die skydiving,' the guy told me. He explained about the gear and the backup systems all skydivers wear. He then went on to cite the surprising number of people who did, in fact, die while skydiving. 'When it’s your time, it’s your time,' he said. Before I could offer an equally fatalistic rejoinder, he ran off yelling at a lady in a beat up Ford Focus who was about to back into his shiny Lexus."