Break-ins

So today I was at home alone with my baby, like most days really. And there was a loud knock at my front door, followed by a strange questionable looking man peering into my kitchen window yelling "hello?"...I obviously was taking too long to walk from my living room to the front door, approx. 20 feet. So I opened the door to find a stranger asking me if I would like my windows washed inside and out, screens off, for only $15.  I said no thanks, and closed and locked the door. But it scared me. And my daughter who has just drifted off to sleep in her crib, which is just off the kitchen. So as she's crying and scared and I'm a little more nervous, we both did a fast sweep of the house to make sure the patio door and all windows that were opened were locked or had the stick in them. I have made my fiance cut me thick sticks for every single door and window, even making me a second stick for days I want to have them open a little, it makes me feel safer having the sticks to control how far the window can actually be opened. I have been putting sticks in my patio door since I went to college and my friend who lived upstairs in a house we shared had his dad come make me sticks for my patio out of old hockey sticks.  And since then I have always had sticks if I lived on ground level.

I have been broken into 3 times in my life, and also 2 car break ins. Let me tell you, it's terrifying. The first one I was 5 years old and we lived in New Brunswick and my parents had taken my family to see the move Jesus Christ Superstar (I think..it was some Jesus movie!) and when we were pulling into the driveway a burglar was using a knife and trying to open MY bedroom window. So the police were called and I remember laying in my bed with my mum trying to tuck me into bed and I kept saying to her, "he almost stole my purse!". LOL. I had a red patent leather purse hanging right by that window with $1.00 allowance money in it.  I remember it clear as day. So I layed in bed staring at the window, the blinds were closed but I could see the policeman's flashlights going all over my window inspecting it.  I will never to this day forget how I felt laying there thinking, he's gonna come back and he's gonna take my red purse. That is the beginning of my nervous  nature I think.  *** side note, I must say at 5 years old I had amazing fashion sense owning a red patent leather purse! Funny at 35 years old I now sport a cranberry red leather purse today!! lol

The next time I got broken into I was home.  So was my older brother and my mum.  My father was in the military and I think he was away on course. It was a saturday and I was in grade 10. It was a 2 level house, I was upstairs practicing piano, I was in royal conservatory and can't play a darn thing now, but I did practice piano lessons for about 3 or 4 years.  So I was practicing, with the headphones on.  My brother was downstairs in his room, music playing, and my mum was ironing I think. Or doing some sort of saturday mom chores. And suddenly the house alarm went off, so right away we all run to the nearest wall panel to see what's lit up, and it said the mud room door, which was downstairs. My mum never left the alarm on in the day, this just happened to be our lucky day. My brother ran to the laundry room and the man ran away. Police were there in 3 minutes because our neighbors alarm went off as well.  They did catch the guy.  He was as high as a kite, and he had a knapsack on him with a machete, and a sawed off shot gun  and bullets in it. I am not making this up folks. He told police he thought he was in another town that's about 2 hours from here, and he thought this was his house. But of course he was known to police and he was arrested and charged with some sort of weapons thingy. But the fear of knowing that someone tried to break in who had a giant machete and a sawed off shot gun I think has scared the shit right out of me. After that I didn't trust people again. There are really mean people out there.

The third break in happened at another house we lived in. I was now an adult in my very early 20's still living at home and working full time. I had Wednesday off work back then.  My father was always home by 3pm, and my mum by 5pm. About 2pm I was asleep upstairs (I was 20-ish I like to sleep!!) And I could hear someone trying to come in the house, so I layed there thinking, oh dads home early. And then I swear I heard someone yell in my ear "wake up its not your dad", and I bolted out of bed, ran downstairs and in the rec room on the bottom level was 17-18 yr old  guy standing there with a  knife trying to open the window.  I told him to leave now or I'll call the cops, and I remember him saying, I left something here I'm just here to grab it.  And we had a conversation! I said no you didn't, you've never been here, he said something about being at a party and leaving his bag here, and when I wouldn't budge he started banging on the window trying to break it and he said "You don't scare me, open the f*cking door". I bolted! I ran out the stairs and called for help.  The police just happened to be down the street from me, seriously like 5 doors down, with the dog (dog just had a run at the beach or something) so they heard it on the radio and that dog sniffed him out and found him 4 doors away in the backyard hiding in a compost bin. He told the police he was just hungry and wanted food.  But he was also known to police so he was taken away.

As an adult on my own my old Honda a.k.a. the Sin Wagon (I went through a big Dixie Chicks faze...lol) was broken into 2 times when I lived in Edmonton.  That's scary too, but now HALF as scary as your house. When someone is trying to break in and you stand there watching him, or see him spread eagle on the back of the police car as they remove weapons from his bag, that's shit stays with you.....forever.

I don't sleep well, never have.  And I really don't trust people. And there is no way I am letting some stranger into my home to wash my windows.  I can do it myself thanks. I was even questioning a man that came by a couple weeks ago selling home alarms.  He kept asking me personal questions that I kept refusing to answer and told him I wasn't interested, and he had the balls to tell me, well it's your safety lady. Patio homes are the #1 break in and an alarm would make you safer. He was too pushy for me. And I asked him to leave. But I am skeptical of these people, are they legit alarm company sellers, or are they casing the houses to see who they could break into.

So i'm always on high alert. always locking everything.  On the very few nights (last one was one believe it or not)   that the patio doesn't get the stick put back in, if I see it laying there in the morning I'm almost sick to my stomach with anxiety over the thought of what might have happened. 

I don't think I'll ever forget these terrifying days in my life. And I hope all of you reading this never have to go through this. Count yourself lucky, and please get sticks and locks for your homes!!