Taken?

Blame it on The Twilight Zone and Rod Serling, or blame it on my older sibling's obsession with watching it late at night when I was "in bed." Blame it on my father's love of science fiction novels with fantastical covers, or how I could sneak downstairs and watch the television from behind his reading chair.

This lovechild has been either fearful of or fascinated with UFO's since the age of 6. In fact, after a frightening experience at our family's lake house, I was convinced that I had been "taken" by aliens, resulting in my obsession with astronomy and outer space travel. I still wonder where that triangular scar on my leg originated.

I adored the shows Star Trek and Lost In Space, had nightmares over episodes of The Night Gallery, was convinced that Armenians were an alien species because they were the first culture to forge iron, and was the lone female in a class of nerds studying the stars at a local planetarium. (I even had geeky glasses back then, now favored by Hipsters everywhere.)

What better Blip for the day than of the UFO that graced the skies over Northern New Jersey, U.S.A. late this afternoon.

Yes, I know it's a cloud, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking of "The Mother Ship."