What do you see?

 

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds” on this warm evening in July 1979.  I was living with my then husband Fred and our two toddler sons in a small apartment that summer in Starkville, Mississippi where Fred and I were completing our doctoral degrees at Mississippi State University.  I had defended my dissertation that morning and had fallen asleep on the couch.  Fred was still up preparing for his defense the next day.  I felt a hand on my shoulder; Fred was shaking me.  “Jane, come look at this – please.” 

I sleepily responded and followed him to the open front door.  He pointed to the sky and said, “Tell me, what do you see?”

“Well, it looks like a flying saucer to me,” I said, confirming to him that he was not in a hallucinatory state from all the studying.  It, indeed, was a disk – with red lights circling around the edge – just stalled in the nighttime sky.  It hovered there for just a minute – then quickly took off into the galaxy – or somewhere.  “Okay – can I go back to sleep now?’ I asked.  I also added, “Now Fred, you know that we can never tell anyone about this. We are trying to get these degrees and keep our jobs and this would not help any of that.” He agreed.  I went up the stairs to our bed, and we rarely talked about it.  Years later, we did share with a few folks – but not many. 

What was that in the night sky? I told myself it was probably something the government was testing. With an Air Force base nearby in Columbus, Mississippi, this seemed like the most rational explanation. Still, I left open the possibility that it might have been something else.

Why am I sharing this 47 years later?  Because I can.  I’m retiring from my final job this summer, so I don’t have to worry about getting fired for mental delusions.  I’m also a 75-year-old great grandmother who hasn’t closeted much of anything in the latter half of my life – except this.  And now it’s time to let this go.  YES, I saw a UFO in the summer of 1979 in Starkville, Mississippi!  I’ll just count myself lucky that they didn’t beam me up.