• “What am I doing?” I ask myself as I stare over the small sandy cliff. With tall grass lining much of the edge, I look through a spot that has none. Onto the beach, twenty or thirty or forty feet down, I honestly have no idea. I turn from the edge and slowly walk down the hill leading up to the cliff’s edge.
    I stand at the base of the sandy hill, with a slight breeze hitting me with salty ocean air.
    “No fear…” I think silently to myself, “no fear…” this time no more than a whisper. I turn and run up the hill as fast as I can.
    “No Fear!” This time it is a scream to the heavens as I plant one foot on the very edge of the cliff and leap into open air.
    As I soar through the air, I look down to the sand, which I’m hoping is nice and soft. Then I look up, into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. A single sailboat dots the horizon as I fly through a gentle breeze. Then I look straight up, into the cloudless blue sky. Looking up as far as my eyes can see. To the highest heights I can possibly imagine and beyond.
    I look down to the sand as I begin to fall. The sand slowly gets closer, and though I cannot say a single word, I think to myself ‘No Fear!’ As my distance from the earth shrinks more quickly, I recall every action movie I have ever seen. Just feet from the sand, I let out a scream of pride.
    I hit the sand and roll forward several times. My arms flail wildly through the air. I finally come to a stop, with sand, rocks, and grass flying up all around me. I stop rolling, and am in a sitting position, then I fall flat on my back. I breathe heavily as bits of sand come down around me. Once again I am staring up to the endless heavens.
    “No fear,” I gasp as I breathe in the ocean air,”no fear.”
    “I got it!” My friend James yells as he runs over with a video camera, “Dude that was freakin' epic!” he yells as he watches it again on the small screen.
    “Thanks,” I pant out as I try hard to control my breathing.
    “Hey man, you okay, any broken bones, internal bleeding, or head trauma?” He asks as he looks down on me.
    I slowly sit up as I control my breathing, and spit out some sand. I shake my head wildly to get rid of some of the debris in my hair. I pull one of my feet out of the beach, where it had become buried by the force of my landing. I look up at him with an expression of severe pain on my face.
    “I got sand in my shorts.” I say as he helps me up onto my feet.
    “That’s not good.” He says as we walk over to the waters edge as the tide sinks away with the midday sun.
    “Not even a little bit,” I laugh as the water comes up to the tips of our shoes and retreats back again. As the bottom of the sun touches the horizon, we turn and walk home in the orange glow of the sunset.