"We thought we were just going to watch," said Randy Freeman of Dayton, Ohio, a man enjoying his retirement.
But then in October, he bungee jumped off the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand, as did his wife Sandy.
"We didn't get up in the morning to jump," he continued, "even though we were somewhere where bungee jumping took place.
" They leaped on a dare, falling 141 feet to the river below, stomachs churning.
The jump changed their lives.
The Freemans are not alone.
Many retirees and others engage in extreme sports to prove their vitality or to empty a bucket list.
Most prepare in advance, however.
President George H.
W.
Bush, for example, skydived on his 85th birthday.
Gabby Giffords, a retired Congresswoman, did it to show everyone that after a gunshot wound to the head, she was still alive.
But the Freemans jumped on a whim, a form of impulsivity they'd left for their son, Jon, to claim.
At the time, the Freemans were touring Australia and New Zealand, a trip they enjoyed after retiring from public service.
Randy had worked as Chief Probation Officer for Miami County and Sandy as an English teacher for Northmont High School.
Sports to them was watching a Bengals-Browns football game in the family room, defending their teams with whoops and shouts while Snowball, their pet rabbit, hid behind the couch.
Sandy roots for the Browns, Randy for the Bengals.
But bungee jumping? "We were taking a prescheduled tour of the Queenstown area with our tour guide, Bruce, a British transplant in his 70s," Randy said.
"But then Bruce encouraged us to try it.
'No way,' I said.
The brochure read, 'View people jumping off the bridge.
' It said nothing about doing it.
But Bruce encouraged us, telling us that someone in their 80s had jumped, and a preteen had tried it.
He made it sound safe.
" Safe? At their age? The Freemans straddled 60.
"Relatively yes," reported Raasch C.
Young and M.
Boymon in a 1998 study of bungee jumpers published in Physician Sports Medicine.
Most jumpers finished without getting hurt.
If someone had an injury, it was usually minor -- a headache, a pulled muscle.
It resolved within a week.
"No way, I kept telling him.
" Randy said.
"But he kept after us.
Then I looked at Sandy.
" That look created a speechless moment allowing years of marriage to make the decision.
In the silence, they said to each other, "We have one life to live and a rare opportunity before us.
" "I told Randy, 'I think we're going to have to do it'," Sandy said, expecting him to say "no.
" But Randy turned over the credit card over to the cashier with a shaking hand, and the next thing they knew they were on a suspension bridge across a canyon, each tied to a latex cord and ready to leap.
They're hearts racing, palms sweating, and the river roaring below.
Rocks jutted out in the water, warning, "Be careful of me.
" "I didn't waste any time looking down," Randy said.
"I decided just not to think about it.
" "And I did the same," Sandy said.
"I was fine with it by then, really.
" "My stomach churned," Randy said.
The Freemans were on either side of the bridge set for separate jumps.
They reported shuffling out to the edge of a platform, like victims of a pirate's order to "walk the plank," and waited for their signals.
The Kawarau River burbled, gurgled, and splashed below.
After a "one, two, three," Randy went first.
"My initial thought on the way down was, I actually did it," Randy said.
"And then I bounced back up and was swinging and dangling until I was lowered into the raft, my stomach gurgling.
My heart raced, too.
" "I ran the gamut of emotions, from fear to excitement," Sandy said.
"I enjoyed it once I was in it, and I had fun once I realized it wasn't going to hurt me.
" The drop was over in minutes, but it created permanent changes that made them feel more robust and open.
"I felt like I accomplished something that few people have ever done," Sandy said with a lift in her voice.
"Friends were always telling me, 'Never say never,' and that's what I thought.
But I'm not an adventure seeker, and this was way out of my comfort zone.
It was a great accomplishment to see that.
" "It was the biggest thrill of my life," Randy said, sounding eager to go back.
"My adrenaline pumped long after I finished.
It still does when I think of it.
My comfort zone is broader than it was before, and if other things come up, I won't dismiss them off-hand again.
" "Crazy old people," said Jon, their son, now married with a 4-year-old daughter.
For him, dares and whims were becoming exaggerated memories.
After the jump, the torch of "whim" passed to a couple who, at their age, would be hunkering down into safer things: gardening, grandchildren, and weekend trips to the family cottage in Tennessee.
"Skydiving or a tandem jump.
I'd be willing to try those now," Sandy said in an unwavering voice.