Clouds or no clouds, I live in NY and it was nighttime when I saw this massive light shining through my kitchen window. (The other windows had shades down.) I'm friends with my neighbors in the adjacent building and knew they were out of town so it couldn't have been from their apartment. We share a covered roof deck and the light was definitely coming from above, but it was so bright it looked like a movie spot light.
I opened my shades in the living room to see the sky was this amazingly bold golden-red color. This may be normal in other parts of the country--and I have seen red sunsets before--but I've never seen anything at all like this, not in New York.
I turned on the TV. A baseball game happened to be on, The Mets, I think. The cameraman had trained the lens on the sky. They became obsessed with its beauty, so that should give you a clue as to how powerful this looked.
I'm a rational guy at heart but it was impossible for the thought that this was for Michael, or an acknowledgment from him to the crowd at the Apollo, not to cross my mind.
And it hasn't left my mind. I truly think it was a sign, a thank you.
When you consider how rare and beautiful a sky that was--as I said, I've never seen it in NY and I've lived here since 1996--and for it to happen on that night... To me, it's equally implausible that it's a coincidence.
So I'm going with It wasn't. Michael was the biggest star we've ever known. How fitting that he light up the night sky as he passes.
