I sleep with the lights on

I'm not kidding. I used to have a nightlight in my bedroom but it burnt out so I usually turn the living room light on and let the light flood up the stairs and gently into my bedroom from my cracked door. I prefer having the living room light on. It makes things easy when I get up in the middle of the night to piss.

I'm not afraid of monsters or the dark I just have an odd philosophy that requires that I have immediate access to light. If someone breaks into my house, the primary means of dealing with that issue is through the use of my .40 caliber handgun I have sitting in my night stand. I'm not interested in wrestling with a potentially armed intruder or walking around in the dark with a knife... I will see an intruder with my eyes, ideally from a distance, and unload my clip into him.

Does that sound paranoid? I don't think it's paranoid to want to protect your house with lethal force if necessary. I hope beyond hope that I never ever have to deal with an intruder and, if I do, I hope beyond hope, that I don't have to shoot them... but I will. I absolutely will without a moments hesitation if I believed it was necessary to protect myself and the people I care about.

I figure, having a light on is partially a deterrent. An intruder relies on darkness in many respects and, if he were to enter my home, he would have to make a choice; "lose the cover of darkness or turn off the lights potentially alerting the home-owner to my presence." Either way, I have the advantage and I'm not interested in playing fair.

The reason I'm writing the blog is because, last night, I couldn't sleep. It was a Sunday night and, of course, I had stayed up until 4:00am the previous two nights so my bedtime of 12:00 was not gonna happen. I have a very good understanding of all the sounds in my house and, although I'm not positive, I could have sworn I heard something moving around my front porch. I never heard anyone try the door or window but last night was one of the few times I had the living room light off.

I don't know if you've ever had the displeasure of looking through your home for an intruder because you heard an odd sound but I have... three times.

It starts out with you laying there in bed in silence listening. You listen and listen and whatever sound it was you heard until you're out of explanations; it's not the cat, it's not the creaky wall, its not traffic outside, it's not an animal outside, it's something inside and it is definitely NOT one of my houses normal sounds. Eventually you realize that you're wide awake. Your heart is pounding and the only way you're going to get back to sleep is to check out every inch of your home for an intruder.

The next step is to get the gun. It's easy. I reach into the drawer directly next to my bed and pull out my gun. I then quietly get out of bed.

The next process isn't as "James Bond" as you might think. You walk into a room, look around, check the closet (because if you don't you'll end up back in bed later asking yourself; "did I check the closet? Could an intruder be hiding in there?" and not able to sleep). And move on to the next room.

It actually sucks really bad to have to do that... to ask yourself; "is there a predator in my home? If so, what does he want? Where is he?" I'm immensely glad I made the decision to get a gun years ago. Walking from room to room lo0king for an intruder with an EAA Witness, I would imagine, is FAR easier than doing the same with a kitchen knife or baseball bat... and, as I said, I have absolutely no interest in playing fair. If there is someone in my house, I want them out or dead... that's it.

So, with the living room light on I have a much easier time of seeing an intruder and shooting him so, until there are no more burglars, rapists, or murderers in this world, I'll be sleeping with the lights on... but not because I'm afraid, but because I wanna kill the mother fuckers if I have to.

Tagged with: dark, gun, home invasion, intruder, lights, sleep