What I Saw Changed My Worldview

I was born on Davis Monthan Air Force Base and grew up in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, in Tucson, Arizona. My dad worked on the flight line as an aircraft mechanic and I grew up around flight lines listening to the roar of jet engines at all hours. I grew up constantly looking up. Looking up in amazement watching the A-10’s in formation as they practiced overhead. Looking up at the stunning and inspiring sunrises and sunsets. Looking up to the mountains that surround the Tucson basin. Mostly, however, looking up at the breathtaking abundance of stars that dazzle and humble any observer.

Anyone who has lived long in the desert southwest knows that it pays to look up. With big, clear skies that span horizon to horizon and low light pollution, the desert southwest is a star gazer’s dream. And some, among their closest family and friends, will admit that it’s more than just stars that a gazer may be rewarded with seeing. Some will confide, quietly, that there’s an even greater mystery in those big, beautiful, bright desert skies. Many will quietly whisper at family gatherings about the UFO’s they’ve seen. I come from one of those families.

I remember spending time with my grandparents after the sun had gone down, sitting under the night sky. I remember so vividly the stories my grandma, grandpa, dad, aunt and uncles told. Stories about strange lights in the sky. Many of these stories happened around New Castle, PA and in Las Cruces NM. They involved cigar-shaped objects floating around the house in the 1960’s. My Grandpa shared amazing stories about working on the railroad next to the Ohio river and seeing the most awe-inspiring craft rise from the water. “Whoever they are, they’ve been here for a very, very long time,” my Grandpa, a WW2 veteran, once told me. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever see anything so spectacular. Nothing prepares a person for that first real, true sighting. Especially when it involves so much more than just one’s eyes. It involves a person’s whole heart.

It happened to me when I was 10yrs old. I lived on the east side of Tucson. I spent my days riding my horses through the Arizona desert and playing with my dogs and cats. I was truly an outdoorsy, animal-loving, nature-loving, tom-boy. One evening, at sunset, I was inside when I suddenly got the idea to go outside, lay down in the front gravel, and look up. I went outside and I made myself a little nest in the warm gravel facing west. The sun was already low-enough behind the houses that it was not in my face and Arizona sunsets are always such a treat. It wasn’t very long before a floating, gold-disc came into my view. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

It was a pure golden colored, saucer-shaped craft. It had no lights or anything fancy and it wasn’t doing any special flying maneuvers. It was slowly and soundlessly gliding straight over head. I watched in absolute awe as it glided overhead, eastward. It was so close. I could not look away. I was so excited to see such a thing I wanted somebody else to see it, too. So I ran next door to my best friend’s house. It felt like it took a long time for her to come to the door. However, by the time she did, the craft was still visible but far enough into the distance that it’s shape or color couldn’t really be distinguished.

That moment changed my life. I knew I had seen and experienced something that, at that time, the government and all of science was saying didn’t exist. However, I’ve always known what I saw and how it made me feel. That was the beginning of an incredible journey and the start of 29 years of high strangeness and synchronicity.

I’ve looked into multiple religions and spiritual practices. I’ve read everything I could get my hands on about UFO’s and still, nothing has quite matched. In all of my research I’ve heard other stories that were similar but never quite like mine. Everything I read described silvery or metallic disks, red-hot fiery balls, and white or opaque cigar-shapes. I’ve seen ancient pictures that seem to depict UFO’s but I never saw one that really looked like what I saw. So imagine my surprise when, out of synchronicity, 29 years later, I just happened to see a near replica on TV.

My daughter started watching a fantastic show on National Geographic called, “This Strange Rock” narrated by Will Smith. There, on TV, for the first time, I saw it again. It was a near identical replica. It was surrounded by Buddhist Monks all simultaneously in prayer at the Temple of One Million Buddhas. The Buddha statues were all gold and arranged into the most curious of shapes that when viewed from afar seemed to look exactly like the golden- colored UFO that I saw. Having studied some Buddhist teachings and being a student of meditation I was immediately taken over by how profound the scene was. These were Buddhist pilgrims who had traveled very far and very long to meditate, together, in front of this temple. This was their holy site. Is there a connection?

While my puzzle has yet to be solved I feel I may have found a significant piece. This isn’t something I’ve asked for and it’s never fit into my worldview as a student of science. I’ve invested a lot of my life at much personal expense to do this. Nearly everything I’ve done in my life has been to try and understand what I witnessed. I’ve looked into every possibility I can think of or find.  I don’t know for sure what this is but I know it’s incredibly significant. I know it’s forever changed me and I feel as if everything I’ve ever done, every life experience I’ve ever had has prepared me to say this… I am an experiencer.

Whatever this is, I continue my quest for the Truth.