Life is full of challenges. Some can be conquered, while others can not. One of the hardest challenges people face in life is overcoming their fear of heights. Bill is a courageous 14 year old who lives in a family that is always very busy with outside activities. Bill constantly tries and loves to do new things that he finds to be interesting. Of all the activities Bill has done, such as riding his mountain bike through the woods or jet skiing in Lake Huron, he can't seem to overcome his fear of heights. For all of his life, he has tried to overcome his fear of heights by doing activities such as the EdgeWalk around the CN tower in Toronto, Ontario, going into the Skydeck at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois, and lots of rockwall climbing. After completing all of these tasks, Bill still couldn't believe that he was still afraid of heights, and neither could his family. So, on Bill's birthday, his family planned a surprise trip to hopefully finally overcome the fear that has haunted Bill for his whole life. Early in the morning on Bill's birthday, his family packed the car for a trip which Bill should never be able to forget. For Bill, the suspense was driving him crazy because of the anxiety of what the surprise was going to be. When the family finally arrived at the destination, Bill was not impressed. They had ended up at a dirt runway airport with a check-in window. After getting tickets, Bill and his family climbed onto a single engine propeller plane. Once Bill was inside, he noticed that there were very few seats but they had parachutes on them. He immediately knew what was going on and tried to make a run to get out of the plane but the door was already closed and locked. Bill knew that his fears would either come to an end, or haunt him forever. After flying for about half an hour, the instructor walked to the back of the plane and told Bill and his family to get ready. Bill didn't want to put on his parachute, but he knew that he had no choice. About 2 minutes later, the instructor opened the door on the side of the plane. Before Bill even knew what was going on, he was strapped to his dad and was now thrust out of the plane and freefalling high above the surface of the earth. Bill wanted to close his eyes, but at the same time, he found it to be silly to have a fear of heights because the view he was experiencing was like no other. As time passed, Bill found himself thinking less about how high up he was and more about the scenery he could see. Eventually, the parachute opened and Bill and his dad landed safely on the ground.
When Bill's dad asked if he was afraid of heights anymore, Bill just smiled and said "not anymore".
Throughout the rest of Bills life, he has climbed Mount Everest twice and been places people can only dream of. This was all made possible due to his family always caring and doing the best for Bill.
