When God gives you 90 years, why not try and cheat death just a bit more?
A Missouri woman seemed to think just that when she celebrated her 90th birthday by going skydiving, hurling herself from a plane 10,000 feet in the air as her family looked on.
“You’re kind of close to heaven while you’re up there,” Eleanor Mann told KODE after her recent trip back down to Earth.
And the hair-raising leap was only her latest — 20 years ago, she went skydiving for the first time on her 70th birthday.
Mann enjoyed it so much, she promised herself if she made it to 90 she’d go again.
“I just thought it was an interesting thing to do, and I loved it. Before just floating down through the air, it was just wonderful,” she said.
Three generations of her family — her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren — stood close at hand and cheered her from the safety of the ground.
“[It’s] a blessing that they love me so much that they would take their time and drive so far,” Mann told KODE.
“I just appreciate it so much.”
The owner of Ozarks Skydive Center, the organization Mann jumped with, said seeing older clients make the jump is one of the best parts of the job.
“We love it. As much as we enjoy sharing the sport with everybody, we love to see those folks come out. It’s kind of a special thing for them,” owner Bryan Wolford said.
“And when we can share it with somebody at 90, that’s pretty, pretty neat,” he added.
Mann wasn’t even the oldest client they’ve seen — they once had a 96-year-old do a jump.
The oldest person to ever go skydiving is Alfred “Al” Blaschke, a Texan who made a dive at 106 years old in November, according to the Guinness World Records.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott even joined Blaschke for the jump to mark the occasion.
Blaschke previously set an age record for jumping at 103 in 2020.