This past Sunday night was my 2nd night back in my empty house after visiting NC. It is still a little weird (and sad) to be all alone in my house when going to bed. I went to sleep at about midnight, but then was startled awake at 2:40am by a very loud crash! My first thoughts while being ripped from my peaceful sleep was that my ceiling fan (which was on) was hitting something or breaking apart and going to fall down and seriously kill or injure me. But after a few seconds past, I knew that that exact cause of the noise was incorrect b/c I was still alive and unhurt. I reached over to my remote control and turned the light on and the fan off. After my eyes adjusted, I scanned the room to see what happened, but not a single thing was out of place. I then began wondering if I had imagined the sound. Was it a part of my dream? Did my mind just exaggerate some noise like the sprinklers going off outside? And of course the typical thoughts one thinks of when they are all by themselves, is someone in my house or trying to break in?!? I turned my light back off and laid there carefully listening for any other strange noises. I didn't hear anything besides the sprinklers outside. But that didn't keep me from freaking out, especially since I still didn't know the source of the sound or if it was even REAL! So I remained in bed, absolutely still and alert, for 30 min. During this time, I considered calling a friend and asking them if they would come over. But I felt bad about waking them up in the middle of the night, AND that it also meant that I would have to GET OUT OF BED and let them in my house! I wasn't quite ready to move yet. I also thought about calling one of you out East where it was closer to waking up time, but then thought, well what good would that do besides just waking you up and letting you know that I was freaked out. (Unless any of you DO have a secret super sonic jet, and would have been able to come to my house.) After that 30 minutes, I decided that I wanted to go back to sleep b/c I was tired, but I couldn't close my eyes! I was still too worried. So I got up the courage to get up and lock my bedroom and bathroom doors to help me feel more safe and secure (plus I had to go to the bathroom). I crept to my door and peeked into the hallway to just check it and John's old room out. Everything looked fine so I closed and locked my door. (Not like a little locked bedroom door would really stop someone who really wanted to GET me!) I then proceeded to the bathroom to lock the hallway bathroom door. As I slowly pushed my bathroom door open, I stopped in shock! My bathroom mirror was shattered in pieces all over the counter and floor! I was also in shock b/c during my half hour of worry, I had actually thought that maybe the giant crash was the mirror falling! I dismissed that thought quickly thinking, "well that is dumb, why would the mirror fall off the wall?" I guess all 22 spots of glue decided that they just couldn't hold on anymore.
I had mixed feelings. I was relieved to know what woke me, but then concerned about cleaning up the mess, getting a new mirror, and being able to use the bathroom right then and in the morning. I decided that I didn't want to spend another hour awake in the middle of the night to clean up the mess. So I grabbed my flipflops and carefully entered the bathroom. I still did peek in the hallway again and lock the bathroom door before I climbed back in bed to go to sleep. I was rather tired that next day at school, but thank goodness for early out Monday's!
I didn't think of taking pictures until I had picked up most of the mess, but here are the afterwards. That box is very heavy!
16 comments:
Yikes! That crash would scare anyone; alone in the house at night or not. I'm glad the mirror didn't decide to fall while you were standing in front of it. That might have been even scarier.
You took the words right out of my mouth, Ree! Yikes and double yikes!
I'm so glad you weren't seriously killed or injured by either the fan or the mirror.
You're not supposed to almost get seriously hurt or kilt just because we're gone! Way to grab some flip-flops, the #1 safety shoe. :)
Do you want me to find a giant gorilla to protect you while I'm on my mission?
YES!! Giant gorillas ALWAYS scare people away! Hey, remember that gorilla standing out infront of that vaccuum place in Benton? I'm not 100% sure about all of you, but I know that I never went to that vaccuum place!
Carolioness--I don't think that gorilla was outside the vaccuum shop to scare people away. Yikes is right. I'm glad you were ok--even if a little frightened.
Zoikes! Yowzers! The shock of being startled awake like that is bone-chilling. It gets your adrenaline going and your heart pumping, and your mind races to figure out somtething you only halfway heard. Until you do though it is hard to go back to sleep.
I think a cat knocked something over in our house one night when we were cat-sitting ... and my mind reeled and reeled until I figured out what had happened.
I am glad you are safe and also practical to don flip-flops and defer the cleanup until daylight hours.
I never went to that vacuum place, so the gorilla worked for me.
Noises in the night are scary. Several nights ago, lightning struck a house down the street. I know that I don't actually move faster than lightning, but the simultaneous flash and boom at 3:00 AM had me at the window in an instant. I realize looking out the window wouldn't have done much good if my own house were on fire, but I found it comforting in the middle of the night to look out and see nothing. We found out where it struck later. There was no major damage.
Long story, short point: night noises are scary. I'm glad you're OK.
Hey, Caroline - remember me? I really do try to keep my intrusion into the family blogs at a minimum, but had to comment here for a couple of reasons, and here's the first one:
When I was living alone (well, Eliza and me) in a 3-brm. house in Benton, I heard a very loud POP! and CRASH! (imagine batman-like illustrations here), but was too afraid to get out of bed! You are so brave. Me, not brave. I had Eliza in bed with me, so she was ok. But I was terrified. I was praying something like, "Just please don't let it kill me . . ." Whatever it was! I never even got out of bed, but after several agonizing hours (minutes, probably in real life . . .), I heard no more noises and went back to sleep. In the morning, I woke up to find the light above my kitchen sink had overheated (I always kept it on at night) and popped and crashed into my sink. Lucky for me that's all that happened, and nothing caught fire! Still, how scary just to hear that noise!
Second reason is, that gorilla in front of the vacuum hospital! I really think that's what that place was called. I never understood the gorilla. Everyone commented on it when it got put outside. I haven't checked, but next time I go visit my parents, I'll see if it's still there. As if Benton didn't have enough of its own, um, cultural flair - nobody needed that dang gorialla adding to it.
I'm sorry that Sue and I weren't there to help you out. I'm glad that there wasn't someone trying to get in and get you. Have you had any luck in trying to find any room-mates? At the very least it may save you some emotional worry at night.
Wow! You got scary noises in the night! Glad you weren't hurt but sorry you have to replace that mirror. I concur that better it fell in the night than whilst you were standing in front of it.
Re: that gorilla in Benton. The store/hospital took it down a few years ago because the local teen populus was vandalizing it too much. They (the store) kept having to repair it and apparently it got quite costly so they took it down. I think they must have gotten too many calls about it being missing because I think they put it back up before the girls and I moved out here. I will ask my sister because she lives in Benton still. Give her something to do for me. ;)
The Gorilla worked for me too. ;) I've never been to that place either. Oh! Wait! I never even saw the gorilla. Does that count? d8-Þ
In any case, I'm glad you are okay.
I think that gorilla even made it onto the big screen. Did any of you see that Billy Bob Thornton movie of the late nineties? I can't for the life of me remember the title, but I think the Benton gorilla had a cameo in the beginning.
Sling Blade
You have permission to telephone us any time about waking up frightened in the middle of the night. We're already used to it, thanks to an eleven-year-old who feels it's important to check through the whole house at every unholy hour imaginable to see if any LIGHTS ARE LEFT ON!
Harvey, of course being the calm, understanding father figure, asked him at last why the dickens he even cared if lights were left on in the farthest reaches of the basement at four a.m., and our son expressed worries that maybe someone was creeping around turning on lights. Harvey grumbled that we have not one, but NINE people creeping around our house, leaving lights on wherever they doggone well please, day and night. Eleven-year-old wasn't amused, but he hasn't awakened us so much since.
I am certainly impressed that in your case you were able to get yourself back to sleep at all! Those adrenaline rushes are way-hard to come down from.
When I was in college, I was asked to "house sit" for my Branch President & his family over Christmas break (Napoleon Dynamite's real Grandpa)! Anyway, they lived in a small community in a very nice house that he had restored. During the middle of the night, I was awoken to the sound of Bump, Bump, Bump, Bump. I sat up in shear terror. When suddenly...Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump. It most certainly was footsteps in the house. My heartbeat became almost as loud as the thumps & bumps. I finally decided that I would make a run for it. I had no clue where I was going to go, because I did not know anyone in the community. It only had one policeman, and I had no clue if he was on duty or at home in bed. Someone obviously had found out that the Heders were away on vacation, and they were here to rob them clean. I ran outside to head straight for my car, when luckily the one police car in town happened to be passing by the house. What luck!!!! At 2am, and the one policeman was passing by!!! I ran out and stopped his car. Trying to catch my breath, I told him of my peril. He told me to stay outside while he investigated what was going on. He bravely entered the house. Several minutes passed. It seemed like an eternity to me. What was happening? I could still see his light shining through the house. After about 5 more minutes, he came out with a smile on his face. The family dog had crawled under the house, and his tail was thumping and bumping against the floor.
best regards, nice info Laser hair removal african american los angeles Program scsi harddrive mac computers Hydrocortizone cream eczema new york bextra attorney epson inkjet Review web host pennsylvania grover arboretum hiking trail Mitsibushi diamante seat covers Hardcore nude teens jpg free Shoppingcom tamiflu Freezer pickup books recipies for convection ovens
Post a Comment