House Alarm System - Protect Your Home

We had just moved down from Miami to a small town in the Keys. We had never fallen victim before and the need for a house alarm system in the Keys out of all places was the furthest thing from our minds. We had always felt safe with or without a burglar alarm in our home. We had two children and back then our son was 4 years old and our daughter 5 years of age. The home was a concrete home on stilts on a corner lot at the end of a dark street. The property had a huge chain link fence around the yard and a canal with dock in the back. We had also just gotten a mix breed puppy for the kids and as little as she was I like to think she patrolled our yard especially at night. Surely she would bark if someone came around. She was a mini guard dog, just as good as any house alarm .

We had only been in the house for about two weeks. My husband and I of course shared the master bedroom and down the hall were the two kids rooms. My son had the first one closest to us and my daughter had the one adjacent to my sons.

Before we went to bed we usually locked the front door and made sure the sliding glass doors were shut and secure. This night was no different. Halfway through the night , must have been around 3 am , I remember it being pitch black and we are fast asleep. All of a sudden I feel someone forcefully jump on the bed and apparently on top of my husband. Instinctively he starts to scream and I can tell he is really scared. My husband is not a wimpy kind of guy. He's not huge but he's average size and has military training and is the typical Cuban macho type. I don't know whats going on, but if he's screaming its for a reason and I start screaming as well. The room is so dark that I can't see anything but my husband is still letting out intermittent shrieks. I am so scared and I scream again. It seemed like it went on forever us taking turns . It had become like a chain reaction then. He would scream , I would scream. I realize I am not in any pain. I don't think anyone has so much as touched me but I know sometimes when you experience something terrible you can go into shock and not actually realize you are hurt until later on. I sit up on the bed and I feel my husband do the same. We then see a light turn on in the hallway and our daughter is making a mad dash into our bedroom. Her little legs are running as fast as she can. Now she is scared herself and wants to know what all the screaming is about. At that time we notice our son kneeling down at the foot of the bed wide eyed and in a state of shock.

It took a while to understand what had just happened. My son had been spooked by a clown picture frame hanging on his bedroom wall. He said the clown looked scary and he didn't want to sleep in his room so he ran and jumped on our bed and landed on his dad.

After we were able to calm the children down we put them back into bed, this time they both slept in the same room and I promised to remove the clown decor in the morning. To this day my son now 23 still hates clowns . It took my husband and I a good hour before we could get back to sleep that night. The chain reaction that was fear at one point had now turned into uncontrollable laughter.

This was not a real emergency but I dont' even want to imagine if it had been. I think now in hindsight that a house alarm system could have at least alerted us had it been a real intruder and alerted the proper authorities while we , the adults , took turns peeing our pants. I am no longer entrusting our home security to my husband. As tough as he is , it seems too much of a job for just one person.

Its been years since we moved from that house and I insist and have had intruder alarms installed in every place I've moved into since. Even in this situation had we had an alarm system we might have been able to realize alot sooner that noone had broken in. We've had different house alarm system in different homes and they have all given us peace of mind and made us feel safer. In addition the panels installed also have panic buttons to alert the police department, fire department and paramedics.

A REAL EMERGENCY

Years after this incident we did have a real emergency. Someone indavertently tried putting out a cigarette on a potted plant on our stairs landing. After we went to bed the cigarette started smoldering and the plant eventually caught on fire right at our front door. The flames reached the soffit and the wood started burning and falling down from a second floor . Luckily for us our daughter unable to sleep witnessed the flames and pieces of wood coming down right in front of her bedroom window. She immediately ran upstairs to our room and informed us and we used the panic button to call for help. Within minutes we had multiple sheriffs officers, the fire department and fire rescue at our house. House alarm systems are one of those things you think you can do without until you really need it. I'm glad to have one now.