The day began with coffee, biscuits and instructions about how to jump out of an airplane.

Bernice Inman was at the Union County Airport with her family to make a lifelong memory.

“I’m not as nervous as I thought I would be,” she said Saturday morning.

Inman — an instructional assistant at Jonesville Elementary/Middle School — joked as the time came nearer for her to jump from 10,000 feet.

“I work with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, so this is nothing,” she said as she paced back and forth, putting away large amounts of coffee.

Before the opening ceremonies, several pilots stopped at Union County Airport to gas up for flights and talk about the beautiful morning.

“The wind is perfect today,” one pilot announced.

The tandem skydiving was hosted by Skyworks Parachute Service and was open to everyone who was 18 years of age or older. The day’s activities began with a flag display and jump before those lucky ones who signed up to jump out of a plane got their chance to sail through the air.

The flag display and jump helped kick off the day of skydiving. Several experienced jumpers did what they do best and parachuted down with gigantic American flags, creating a patriotic display for those in attendance at the airport as well as those with a view from around the county.

Inman’s anticipation grew as she watched the experienced jumpers.

“I want more coffee but they don’t have a bathroom on that plane,” she laughed.

Inman’s husband — Torance — had his one and only skydiving experience 10 years ago.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “You get really nervous when the door opens and you put your feet out on that strut. I’d like to do it again but I’m not quite ready.”

Bernice Inman said her husband was sick after his jump a decade ago.

“Torance’s face had turned green when he landed,” she said.

After the plane was gassed up, Inman began receiving instructions from Mark Lancaster of Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC. Lancaster — a Union native — has been skydiving since 1988 and has been a part of several world record attempts.

Inman was not able to hide her nervousness as she was told what to do during the flight, free fall, parachute and landing portions of the jump.

Her children gathered around as she finally boarded the plane and blew a kiss to her husband.

The plane took off and after everyone had spent several minutes staring at the clear blue sky, Inman’s daughter yelled, “That’s her! The blue and white parachute!”

Inman finally hit the ground with a stand-up landing, which is rare for a first-time jumper. Even though she was no longer 10,000 feet in the air, her spirits were still extremely high.

“It was great! Let’s go again!” Inman shouted.

The jump did not turn out to be scary for Inman at all.

“The airplane ride was the scary part,” she said. “There were five of us in the plane. The jumping was the easy part.”

Inman said the free fall portion felt like it lasted no time.

“The parachute part was beautiful. It’s really indescribable,” she said. “Everybody ought to do it.”