This morning, at 2:14, our alarm went off. The house alarm.
This was the first time, in the 23 years since we built the house, that the alarm sounded (without our help). We were fast asleep. The frantic beeping on the wall panel in the bedroom roused me. Like being doused with a pitcher of ice water.
It was telling me, clearly, that we had a “fault” in Zone 103. Clearly. I don’t have any idea where Zone 103 is located in our house. So my instructions were as understandable as Mandarin.
We quickly loaded our guns (yes, guns) and systematically made our way through the house. Once I got to the kitchen area, I emphatically told “the person” that they should leave. I informed them that there were two of us, and we both had loaded weapons.
By the time we had searched all three floors, my shirt was soaked. And I never sweat, not even when it is 95 degrees and humid.
To say the very least, I was scared. Finding sleep after this “security breach” was pretty impossible.
I have no idea what caused this. After a phone call to our security company, I learned there had been a hiccup in our signal. A glitch. A mishap.
It is hard to shoot a hiccup in the dead of night. I’m just thankful I didn’t have to.
And that is that.
Just yesterday, I was reading that there are only two core emotions. Fear, and Love. Love and Fear. All other things come from one or the other of these emotions. Anger, sadness, apprehension, and hatred, slither out from fear. Joy, acceptance, trust, and serenity, come from love. And it goes on and on.
A lot of things run through your mind when you are scouring your home, with a loaded gun, in the middle of the night. Searching for a human intruder.
Love was not one of them.
Thankfully, some sort of break in the signal was the cause.
But I don’t want to experience that again, any time soon.
They say all experiences are lessons. Every life moment is something we learn from. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. I am not sure what that life lesson is at this point.
But today is Confucius’ Birthday. Now there was a Wise One. Confucius was born in 551, in Zou, Lu State, China. Therefore, I can rule out that he was not in my house last night. But if he were, he probably would have fixed tea, and started spouting Confucisms. Since I can’t find my own lesson, I will borrow a few of his, until I do.
“The man who says he can, and the man who says he can not… Are both correct.”
“Your life is what your thoughts make it.”
“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”
“All people are the same; only their habits differ.”
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”