Still falling for you: Husband and wife go skydiving to celebrate 20 years of marriage

GRAND HAVEN — Some say entering marriage, especially at a young age, is like diving in head first.

Husband and wife Jeff and Teresa Verry did just that when they went skydiving on their second date, a “crisp afternoon” in the fall of 2000 in Hastings. They married two years later in May 2002.

Now, celebrating 20 years of marriage, Jeff and Teresa celebrated their matrimony by once again jumping out of an airplane, this time in Grand Haven on Thursday, July 7.

Twenty-two years ago in a Grand Haven church, Jeff and Teresa were in a group that was taking turns naming things they’d like to do in their lifetime. Both said “skydiving.”

“There’s some people who think about things, and there’s some people that actually do them,” Jeff said, describing himself and his wife. “She’s like, ‘next week?’”

Jeff, who said he’s extremely afraid of heights, said he wasn’t serious at first about skydiving, but decided to go along with Teresa.

“It was a blast,” Teresa said, who was then 19 years old.

“It’s incredible,” Jeff added. “Everything that you do in the next hour or two … after you skydive, everything looks better, tastes better, sounds better.”

Subscribe: Learn more about our latest subscription offers!

Jeff said Teresa is the adventurous one in their relationship, bringing him and their 9-year-old daughter, Lillian, on all sorts of adventures, like tubing, skiing, boating and camping.

“I don’t know where I’m going to be anymore, I just show up,” Jeff said with a laugh.

Just a week ago, Jeff and his daughter were at the Battle Creek Air Show, where a truck explosion caused the death of a Missouri man.

“Life is short,” Jeff, 47, said. “Take the trip, take the jump, eat the dessert. Eat it again. That’s how (Teresa) lives and that’s how she helps us live.”

Teresa, 41, said she and her husband’s personalities balance each other out.

“He’s the one that makes sure we have groceries and dinner and all the things,” she said. “I’m the one that makes sure we have fun.

“He’s still the best adventure I’ve ever had. We always know that, even if we’re fighting, I know he has my best interests at heart and he knows I have his best interests at heart.”

Just like two decades ago, the couple got geared up, this time in their wedding attire, Jeff in a black suit and tie and Teresa in her wedding dress, in which holes had to be cut to get the harness properly situated.

This isn't the first unique skydive Tony Gwinn, owner of Skydive Grand Haven, has seen.

“We’ve had people that wanted to play a clarinet up there, naked jumps, all kinds of stuff,” Gwinn said.

After a romantic dance to “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” by Elvis Presley and a cheery send-off from family and friends on the ground, Jeff, Teresa and their longtime friend, Keena Kent, boarded the plane.

They flew up 14,000 feet before skydiving down in tandem with their instructors. Jeff kissed the ground after landing, while Teresa cheered and smiled all the way down, white dress flying as she spun around in the wind.

“They’re two peas in a pod,” Kent said. “They’re better together.”

The Verrys had a few words of advice for newlyweds or couples.

“Take the trip,” Jeff said. “Eat the cake. Right now. It’s not just about ‘life is short’ … there’s so much you can do. We live in a place in the country where people come to vacation, why would we (watch) Netflix?”

Teresa shared a tip that she said has worked for her relationship.

“If you invest in your marriage, you’ll survive 20-plus years,” she said. “If you invest somewhere else, your marriage won’t survive.”

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: West Michigan couple skydives in Grand Haven to celebrate wedding anniversary