Breaking and Entering

I'll admit, there have been a few times when I've heard something late at night and felt nervous. I get up, grab my giant flashlight (perfect for clobbering an intruder) and peer out my windows. It's always been my imagination though.

FACT: It took me a few weeks to realize that sound I thought might be someone trying to get into the garage was actually Oliver snoring.

On Easter, however, I had the opportunity to discover how I react during a real emergency situation. I was minding my own business, just hanging out at home when the door knob started to rattle. At first I just assumed it was my brother coming home, but when he didn't just unlock the door and come in I decided to go check it out.

Looking out my peephole (thanks Dad for helping me install it!) I saw a shorter, balding man in his 40s or 50s trying to unlock my front door. Talk about creepy!

At first I tried banging on the door and shouting "Who are you?" thinking maybe he didn't think anyone was home (despite all the lights on inside). When that didn't deter him I began hunting for a weapon and grabbed my phone to call 911. Then I went to double check the locks on my back doors and make sure the alarm was on. I must say, I was glad for my home security system last night!

Talk about a scary 5 minutes, but luckily that's how long it takes the cops to get to my house--a fact I learned thanks to this incident. The man was gone by the time they arrived, but the officers checked my backyard and side yards for me.

In retrospect, my guess is that the man was too drunk to realize that he wasn't at his house. You'd think me yelling "Go away!" and "I'm calling the police!" would get that message across, but drunk in the dark and with all the rain he probably just made a mistake. I didn't see any cars nearby so he was probably walking and trying to hurry out of the storm.

I've never dealt with a situation like this before. The only other time someone tried to break into my house I was five or six and we weren't even home. A police officer happened by before the housebreaker even made it into our house.

FACT: I was convinced the robber stole my mancala beans (because a handful of beans is what any thief would go for). Oh and my mom told my brother the robber stole all of his pacifiers.

All in all, I could do without this experience, but at least I know the police aren't far and nothing bad happened. What safety measures do you have in place at your house? Have any of you ever dealt with a scare like mine?