THE MOON WALKER

We exchanged messages on an online dating site about 8 years ago. He described himself as age 55, in excellent shape, and famous. He had me at "famous." When I asked his name, he hedged and revealed that he was a former astronaut. Since I already knew his first name, it wasn't difficult to do an internet search on him before agreeing to meet.

I discovered that he was a former astronaut and one of 12 men who had walked on the Moon. I find it ironic that this is now a notable feat, as one would have expected that we would have been on Mars for over 40 years since he walked on the Moon.

As I entered the restaurant and saw him sitting at the bar, I couldn't help noticing that he looked more like 75. I asked why he felt compelled to lie about his age. He replied that he had yearly check-ups as a follow-up to his space travel. According to NASA, he had the health of someone 20 years younger. My response was that he should really work on telling the truth.

He had a doctorate from MIT and was the most brilliant person I had ever known. While on his mission to the Moon, he conducted experiments in telepathy. He was also into some far-out stuff, like parapsychology and UFOs. 

One of his famous quotes was, "You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that, you son of a bitch." I have to agree.

I added absolutely nothing to our conversations but hearing him discuss his experiments in telepathy and his profound belief in UFOs was captivating. I remained transfixed for hours as he talked.

After a few dates, he invited me to his house for dinner. As I walked into the front door, I was greeted by him in the flesh. Directly behind him was a massive portrait of himself, dressed in his astronaut gear from 40 years ago (and a much younger body and face!)

He claimed that he was healed telepathically from kidney cancer by an adolescent living in Canada a few years before our meeting. However, I noted numerous prescription bottles on his kitchen counter. For all I knew, it could have been a year's supply of Viagra.

While we were waiting for the steaks to cook, he had a phone call from Shirley MacClaine. They were old friends from the parapsychology world. Later, he went to his safe deposit box, brought out the moon rocks, and placed a few in my eagerly awaiting hands. It had only been a few years since NASA sued him to return one of the cameras he was trying to auction. He finally returned it to NASA to settle the case but kept the rocks. A few years later, NASA decided to allow the astronauts to own artifacts from their trips in space.

I noticed that he kept his head low during dinner and wouldn't make eye contact while eating. I slowly realized that he had removed his dentures to make chewing steak easier. You would think he could afford a good set, but at least he was adaptable.

He died last year at the age of 85. A few months later, in the Wikileaks hacked emails that were released of John Podesta, it was revealed that one of his representatives had asked for a meeting with Podesta/Hillary Clinton to discuss "how zero-point energy from aliens could save the planet from global warming."

I have a friend writing a book about her husband's experiences encountering an extraterrestrial on a hunting trip 40 years ago. When I asked her if they had communicated with this former astronaut, she said she couldn't answer my question for some unknown reason. It could be in the book. I'll have to wait.

This week, we saw the just-released video from a pilot encountering a UFO during a flight in 2004. It was shaped like a "tic-tac" and may have been only one of a fleet of tic-tacs.

I wonder if he knew about the tic-tac UFO before his death, or does he know about it now that he's in the Great Beyond?

Anything is possible.