Close Encounters

Recent talk about a meteor shower that lit up the sky in Utah reminded me of this story... My very own Close Encounter! Brought to you from... June 3, 2004

We sure had an interesting night. So pictures this... it's pitch black outside and I up up late folding laundry and watching a movie... When all of a sudden there was this bright light shining through the windows. Now, we do live at the bottom of a circle, so cars are always turning around and we are very used to what those lights look like as they shine through the front windows. But this light was more like daylight… Like someone had a spotlight shining it into our family room. And the light was just streaming through the blinds and all the windows on different sides of the house.

At this point I no longer have an accurate sense of time, but there was a pause, long enough for me to think, “that is very strange” and start feeling a little suspicious… Then all of a sudden – BOOM! It was if something had slammed into the front door, but not just the front door, the entire front wall of the house. At this point I jump up and fly up the stairs…

I woke Kenneth up telling him, “Something just hit the front of house. GET UP!” Because I had no explanation for what had just happened I begin to think there must be someone outside, who shined lights into the family room and are trying to get in the house. I told Kenneth to call the police. We were told that a transformer had just blown up over in Redmond, (our neighborhood opens up to downtown Redmond, as we are on a little bit of a hill.) Could that be what it was? No, an entire building would have had to explode to send that kind of a shock wave to our house.

The police are on their way. We are all huddled up in Awsumb’s room looking out the front window trying to see if we can see anything. The dispatcher starts asking me if we have any weapons in the house... I begin to stutter as she says, "M'am, do you have a gun?" She explaing that the officers that have been sent out will make a soft approach to the house... walking down from up the street so they can see if anyone is still out there... And we may see them snooping around and don't shoot them! All we had was little souvineer bat, but about thta point I start wishing we had a gun! Then I remember, the coyotes had been out earlier in the back ravine “crying” and talking to each other (they sound like a pack of hyena's when the really get going). Could a few of them have slammed themselves into the front of the house? Why would they do that? And what about the flash of light?

So, we are all hiding out up Awsumb's bedroom with our little bat. By the time to police arrived we felt very silly, but it was just so unusual. And when we finally talk to them at the front door, did I actually say it was like and "alien encounter?!" Great, now we are on their crazy list. But they did say they recieved a few odd calls at the exact time I did and admited it was odd.

Finally we all just go to bed. Awsumb was wearing his Spiderman PJ’s and kept saying how he “saved the day” and how he helped the police. It was funny. This morning on the radio I heard the tail end of a news report… something about, “If you saw a flash and felt a BOOM, then that’s what it was.” What? I really wish talk radio had a “replay” button like our TV! I called Kenneth and we found out what happened. There was a meteorite that entered the atmosphere at 2:40 am. Reports say, “The sky lit up like day time” and many people felt a sharp boom. Scientists suggest everyone go outside on a meteor hunt! I am sure Awsumb will love that! I will let you know if we find anything. (We didn't, but had a fun hunt!)

Do you have any stories about your own close encounters?