‘Skydive Tecumseh changed my life’

To the Editor,A year ago today, I was a lost person. I was in the middle of a slow breakup and had very few people in Michigan that I could call a friend. I was stagnating at my job and my pastimes were not giving me the joy they once did. That all changed on June 7, 2014. I had skydived once before, but this time there was nobody attached to me. This time I was thirteen thousand feet above Meyers-Diver’s Airport. My life came into focus that day; I was no longer lost.Skydive Tecumseh changed my life in a permanent way that defies words. There, the friendships that were lacking in my old life, blossomed in days, if not hours. Some may read the word “family” in comments or other letters to the editor and roll their eyes and dismiss such statements as platitudes. I assure you that a sense of community akin to one’s immediate family is what a regular at Skydive Tecumseh will get. It is a support structure like you have never experienced, a group of people that care about each other’s well being and continued education.When I go to Skydive Tecumseh, I take confidence home with me and every Monday at work seems a little better than the last.Before this news story broke, I had a coherent plan for 2015. I was going to get my coach rating so I could help transform new students into safe skydivers. It is still my intent to teach, but who knows where? I was going to move from my current residence in Novi closer to or even in Tecumseh. Now I’m staying put. I’m waiting for a court case and how it affects Franz to figure out where I’ll live.You may ask, “What does this all mean to Tecumseh, Michigan?” You have an attraction in your town that brings in thousands of tourists every year. It is a place that permanently changes lives. Some of those changed people decide that a longer commute 250 days a year is worth the free time they get to spend in Tecumseh. Some of us come for the weekends. Regardless, we eat our breakfasts at City Limits Diner, we buy our lunch supplies at Jerry’s, we watch our Red Wings games at Muck's, and we take our out-of-town family to Evan’s Street Station. If Skydive Tecumseh is shut down or moves, all of that leaves. Life changing experiences associated with your town name are gone. Disposable income from all over the state, country, and world will not be going to Frosty Boy or Embers, it will go somewhere else.2014 was the best year of my life, and it was all because of Skydive Tecumseh. I want to help make 2015 the best year of another person’s life and I want to do it in Tecumseh.Andrew HermetetNovi