Time Stood Still.
About 25 years ago a friend and I were climbing on a cliff face at a local state park in NC. We were young (around 20) and foolish and enjoyed taking chances with our lives, so we were not using ropes or any other safety devices. We were on a narrow ledge. I was just ahead of my friend by maybe three of four feet, so we were virtually next to one another. I remember looking down to the base of the cliff which was perhaps 300 feet below with large boulders strewn about, and thinking "no way anyone could survive a fall from here". At that moment I foolishly used a rooted growth as a handhold to traverse a very narrow section of the ledge complicated by an outcropping of rock. The plant came out; my body came away from the cliff face, my feet still on the ledge.As I felt my body leave the cliff and go beyond the point of no return, I thought "well this is it (I'm gonna die)" and relaxed. I was not afraid and I was not thinking of the pain when I hit those boulders or anything.
Meanwhile as my friend and I later discussed; he had been witness to all of this. Well, the next thing I knew I was kneeling with rock solid placement on the same spot I had just "fallen" from. It was as if I woke suddenly in that position. It was as if that instant in time was stopped, erased, and played over. And this feeling was the same for my friend.
