My son and i were standing on our 3rd story balcony at night. i love the sky and was looking east . note that i live a few short miles from regan national airport and the arlington/ dc pentagon . as i was looking out into the distance, i noticed a round white orb that seemed to be sitting on top of a high rise complex approximately 15 to 20 stories tall . it was close to the red flashing lights that are atop many tall buildings. i thought the white orb was a big light to warn planes and helicopters that a tall structure was there and of course for safety reasons. i said to my son , that light seems almost to be balanced on the same blinking red light that i am positive is a structure atop one of the many high rises that line the potomac river. but the way it's just hanging there makes me wonder if it's a bright light to warn aircraft or perhaps for the purpose of just giving light to keep the top of the structure safe for maintenance crews at night ! all the time we are looking and talking about it which was about 3 minutes i just had this feeling it was there to seem it had its place, but it really wasn't a part of that building. my son walked into the apartment and i went to find my binoculars that i always keeps close by . not more than 30 seconds to a minute had passed " i didn't see my binoculars which i usually have 10 feet from my balcony and went back out to study that orb although disappointed i couldn't readily find my binoculars to get a much better look and that orb had just vanished. i yelled to my son the orb was gone and he looked and said wow, it is gone. i said that i believe in ufo's and life outside our planet and went on to say that white orb was one of the reasons why i am a believer. the thought of ufo's and life outside our planet doesn't scare me at all . i , like many others , just want to be able to explain the unexplainable. the very next night around 12 to 1am , i had my blinds wide open and i was looking out at the n.W sky and i see this beautiful blue light beam for about 3-5 seconds. i don't know why , but i could tell it was at an angle and just knew it was beamed from sky to ground not ground to air !!! i've seen white search lights used in the city before for special occasions but this light was an off shoot of blue and was beautiful but again, the beam was sky to ground and lasted no more than 5 seconds. i told my son who was in another part of the apartment and he just laughed. i explained how fast but awesome the beam was and how it came and went and said it seemed like what we are told happens when a soul is raptured. i wanted to tell someone who specializes in such matters but didn't know who to share this with . i can remember in detail a year later the areas and experience like it were yesterday. i'm glad i heard about you so i could share this !