Number one reason I disappear on the weekends to the middle of the desert: I want to be abducted by aliens. At least until earth figures itself out.
But seriously though. There is nothing more fascinating than the night sky hundreds of miles from the nearest city, in the middle of a vast desert. My pup and I escaped to southern Utah over the weekend and after recently having Lasik surgery, I was incredibly excited about what I would be able to see. Little did I know how exciting my star-gazing would be!
Cricket put herself to bed in our little two-person tent and I zipped her up and curled up in my oversized camping chair as the desert chill started to blanket the valley. The moon was bright but it didn't seem to change the amount of stars that started to speckle the sky. I wanted to see a shooting star. But all I was witnessing was a random plane passing by.
Then, movement. No flashing lights. I assumed it to be a satellite and watched as it grazed across the sky, heading west to east. But it looked DIFFERENT. Orb-like. And far too large to be a satellite. Then it just STOPPED. And there it sat for a moment. My heart started to race. Was this it? Was it about to come down and save me? Nope. Instead it zigged. Then it zagged. And then it hovered. And then I knew...this was no satellite. It was too far away to be a drone. No flashing lights. No sound. So what WAS it? When it stopped with its half-hazard sloppy trajectory it slowly disappeared into the horizon.
Moments later...there it was again. Only this time it was headed south to north. And same thing. It stopped, it swung back and forth slightly across the sky. Then it completely changed it's trajectory and started to head east! And as before, it disappeared on the horizon. I was a giddy schoolgirl. Squealing for it to come back! But it left the pup and I behind and I didn't see it again.
I slept better that night than I had slept in ages. The silence of the desert was unlike anything I'd experienced. So maybe they did come. Injecting my heart with exactly what it was needing when I ran away to escape my thoughts, my troubles and the noise of the outside world. Maybe, they returned me better than I was before.
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