Hey Pandas, What Was The Most Terrifying Yet Exciting Moment Of Your Life? (Closed)

When my wife went into emergency c section to have our daughter. Our daughter got stuck during birthing.

Day 1 of rehab. (May sound corny but Day 1 was terrifying, and I’d been a volunteer firefighter in a rough area so we saw a lot of action)

When my 18 year old stepdaughter fessed up she was pregnant.
I said “let’s stay calm. Within a year there’ll be a little baby in our family and we won’t be able to imagine life without him. Aaaaaand breathe.”

He’s nearly 4 now and the apple of our eyes.

Flying with a coworker who was also a licensed pilot in a twin-prop 6-seater. He was a bit of a hot dog and did some maneuvers that were rather thrilling. He died, crashing his plane 2 years later.

Hiking down the side of a cliff! It was scary but cool at the same time! I also had a too heavy hiking backpack on!

Hearing I was pregnant!

Finishing th NCLEX (For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the test you take to get a nursing license).

Back when I took the test, it took a couple days to get the results. Nothing quite like spending two days wondering whether or not your years if hard work have actually paid off.

Seriously! The fear is real! I know a number of people in my cohort who couldn't pass and ended up never getting their license. Imagine spending all that time and money, then ending up stuck in whatever job you were trying to get out of in the first place... all because you couldn't pass your boards!

And the test itself does nothing to help a person's confidence after it's completed, either... the difficulty of test questions adapts to your knowledge level, giving you the constant feeling that you're "not quite sure" every time you submit an answer. 😱

Fortunately, I did pass and have been a nurse for quite some time now.

I wanted to get away by myself and decided to take a three day kayak trip at a large lake near me. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing and I did not check the weather, I should have. It was a bit windy when I started, by the third day it was blowing hard. The lake was red flagged, (unbeknownst to me), and the waves were 6’ 7’ high. Trying to reach my destination, I was worried about hypothermia, it was cold and I was wet, and rocks. As I would reach the top of the wave many rocks were appearing at the bottom. As I went down a wave my kayak hit a rock and spun me towards more. I panicked and paddled for all I was worth. Then I heard my kayak paddle crack. Without a paddle I was done for. I calmed my self down and was able to make it to shore with just a mild case of hypothermia.

Skydiving. I loved everything about it.

It might seem quite tame. Walking through Forest Hills cemetery in Boston with my husband. We heard someone stomped their feet and audible footsteps next to us, but there was no groundskeeper or other visitors around.

My husband and I’s wedding day. Not terrifying to marry each other but because we’re both introverts and hate eyes on us. We don’t like being in the spotlight. Exciting because of the journey that lay ahead for us.

My first jump out of an airplane at Airborne Training at Ft. Benning, GA. I’d had to fight through injury, grueling runs in the Georgia heat and snide comments about women needing to stay where they belong. (Note: This was the late 70s…). I got mad and got stubborn and made it through. But it wasn’t until I was in the C-130 getting ready to take off that it really hit that they expected me to jump out if it. When I got out the door and looked up at that canopy, I whooped as loud as I could, and I was told I had a huge s#%*-eating grin on my face the whole way down! I went on to be the first female instructor at the Pack phase of Rigger School! Go Army!

Getting that big a*s needle in my back at my first c-section...