Most kids I speak to nowadays have no concept of only watching three television networks on TV, much less watching TV in only black & white, no color, P.C. era (pre-cable). Today, we are overwhelmed with the number of stations available on ATT, U-verse, Spectrum, satellite disc . . . but despite the broad selection, I still tend to get stuck on one or two stations on the weekends I get to stay home to watch cable television or Netflix. Yup, I’m one of those people who gets stuck on Law & Order or Ancient Alien Astronauts. I probably fit the perfect profile of a Law & Order watcher, but maybe not so much the demographics of an avid Ancient Alien Astronauts and Giorgio A. Tsoukalos fan. So, I confess. My name is Rosie Gonzalez and I love to watch Ancient Alien Astronauts on the History Channel every chance I get.
I am purdy sure my fascination with outer space, aliens, spaceships and the stars was securely imprinted in my brain early in my childhood as I watched reruns of Lost in Space, Dr. Smith, Will, Jetsons cartoons and spent Saturday mornings watching Land of the Lost with it’s weird lit up stones inside the pyramids and hokey dinosaurs chasing freaky half monkey/half human creatures around the jungle. All that great alien material was stoked by regular UFO Sightings headlines in newspapers with stories from Europe, Japan, and Mexico about flying saucers, alien sightings, and alien abductions.
Closer to home in south Texas, those stories from across the globe seemed so near when we would hear news about nearby cattle mutilations and “big bird” sightings. Our south Texas “big bird” sightings were the equivalent of Chupacabra sightings of more recent times. There wasn’t much to be said about the cow mutilations aside from the usual Satanic cult, Brujeria, work of aliens theories. The “big bird” sightings were varied and colorful, from the bird looking pre-historic with silver dollar sized eyes, to the bird hanging out on someone’s roof or looking into someone’s house through the screened windows in the dark of night. Closer to home in south Texas, UFO sightings and alien abduction stories seemed more personal when we would hear news about sightings in the Arizona and New Mexico deserts, or abductions from the Washington and Arkansas forests.
I can’t help but smile and grin when remembering how my Mom made the best of our childhood fears and anxieties that were centered around aliens and abductions. We were believers. After all, my Mom had even shared that my Dad had sworn he saw aliens and flying saucers during one of his stints working one of his night shifts out in the Mexican mountains. Every time I watch an episode of Ancient Alien Astronauts it jettisons me back to nights when my Mom had my brother and I climbing up a homemade ladder to sit on our carport roof, with binoculars in hand. She would start to scan the sky and within minutes would help us spot moving objects in the sky. Was it a plane? Was it a bird? Could it be a UFO? She would entertain us for an hour or two on those hot, sweltering summer nights. Those UFO searches took place on nights when the skies were clear and the silhouettes of Gaviotas raced overhead. Those UFO searches took our minds off the heat, they took our minds off the sensationalized stories of the global alien phenomena. Those UFO searches served to humble us and remind us of just how big our universe really is, and they opened our minds to the possibilities that came with the “what ifs . . .” The last time I drove to Boca Chica Beach my wonder went into exponential gear when I realized what I saw on the drive was most likely the SpaceX South Texas Launch site.
Because after all, if ancient alien astronauts didn’t exist, how did they build everything? And although we, as humans, do not have answers to all the world’s questions, we know the answer is that it was aliens. But what if Giorgio is right? I am not saying it was aliens, but it’s aliens . . .
Yup. I’m a believer. I’m a believer on every level. I believe that the universe is bigger than anyone can imagine. I believe in things yet to be discovered. I believe that we don’t have all the answers. I believe in things that I have been told can’t possibly exist. I believe in what ifs and I believe in the possibilities. I believe that a person’s commitment to hope and openness to believe is what gets us through times when we are surrounded by unknowns, find ourselves in darkness, even lost. Today, believe.