I friends, I've got part one of a two part story for you today.

Part two will drop next week.

And for those who've eagerly been awaiting the continuation of my personal story called The Cape,

the next chapters are up on Patreon, where you can join for just a dollar,

but I won't be sharing it here on the public platforms.

Along with the other people who are in it, I've decided that it's just two

personal to be shared here. You know, we have kids, and we just prefer for that series to live

behind a paywall, but it's only a dollar to come check it out.

And personally, I think it's some of my best and most interesting work yet, and I'd be honored

if you come take a listen at patreon.com slash stranger's podcast. We can also find our entire

archive of more than 100 episodes, which are mostly not about me, but about other people,

as is today's story. And without further ado, here it is. Enjoy.

On my way to the bridge, I was a little bit excited, a little bit nervous.

I hopped out of the van. That's when the butterflies kind of started, and I climbed up onto the

railing, so I was standing up on the railing. I remember a big truck came by and I could feel it

shake me. I blew on my hands because they were a little sweaty. I took a deep breath. I looked down,

and then I looked out onto the horizon. Three, two, one, jump.

Meet Sequoia Schmidt. She wasn't intending to harm herself. On the contrary, she does this every day,

and I had asked her to describe that morning's jump. Each day she goes down to the parent bridge,

puts on a parachute, and climbs onto the narrow railing. That's one of the scariest parts of a jump

is slowly climbing onto the top of the railing with a 500 foot drop below you. Pretty terrifying.

She leaps off, hurdles towards the ground in a free fall, and pitches her shoot. And then by the

...