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(Note: This qualifies as one of my occasional off-topic posts.)This is a true story... for some inexplicable reason, I faded awake at about 3:00 this morning. As I was dozing back to sleep, the sudden reflection of light caught my attention.
I opened my eyes and could see light reflecting off the part of the wall along the top floor landing that I could see from bed. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it wasn't reflecting from somewhere outside. Rather, I recognized it as light from the floor lamp in the living room.
The lamp had inexplicably winked on...INSIDE our house.
A quick headcount told me all I needed to know. My wife was next to me. Everybody that should be in the house was accounted for. Nobody else was authorized. Yet, the floor lamp in the living room just came on; that shouldn't be the case.
"Crap," I thought. A charge streaked through my mind, "I've got a bonafide 'no-shitter' here."
For reasons of security, I wont' share in this public forum what weapon I had available. Suffice to say, I grabbed it. Then a beeline out the bedroom door, over the landing and down the stairs. It was all of about 5 seconds, but it felt like a lot longer than that. I was expecting confrontation.
Instead...nothing.
I made a quick tour for any open doors or windows. All locked from the inside, as they should be. Did somebody break in and then lock the door after entry? I checked every nook-and-cranny downstairs: behind doors, under tables, slapping drapes, opening closets.
Nothing...nobody. Thank god? Yes.
Turns out, the switch on the floor lamp was on all along. Only, the electrical cord had loosened from the wall outlet earlier in the evening causing the lamp to wink out. Later, due to atmospheric or other subtle natural forces during the course of the evening, the 'trons reconnected causing the lamp to wink back on.
Needless to say, it took me a while to get back to sleep. I was pretty keyed-up, so I had some time to think: I would like to have done some things differently.
First, when I rushed out the bedroom door, I should have shut it and locked it behind me while engaging the door stopper we installed for just such a worry. That would at least keep another layer of separation between what I was worried about and my wife inside the room.
Secondly, we should have kept at least one of our mobile phones upstairs. If our worse fears had materialized, I would have wanted my wife making that emergency call ASAP. Instead, all phones were in their respective chargers--downstairs.
Thirdly, short of installing a panic room, I would have wanted my wife to have her own avenue of defense--and escape--in case I was, you know, incapacitated. :(
This non-event definitely got us thinking. A good thing. The three points above are the immediate steps we've remedied. But, while we have the luxury of time, we're taking other measures, as well. For security reasons, I won't share them all, but suffice to say, many of the "common sense" preventative measures will be the first line of defense: reinforcing doors with strike plates, jamb locks and window braces are definitely in the offing.
In any case, I thought I'd take a moment to share this non-event with you. As the holiday travel season looms, it might be a good idea for you to revisit some home protection measures before taking off. And, if you have any additional good tips and thoughts to share, I'd love to hear them.
In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of these interesting articles with some good prevention tips to consider:
o 3 Ways to Prevent Home Invasion using Home Self Defense, Andrew Youtz
o Home Invasion Robbery: Protect Your Family With a Security Plan, Chris McGoey
o Home Invasion Defense, Doug Wright
Be safe!
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