An Alarming Experience

When Middle and Little Sis both revealed that they were alarm-o-phobic, that is terrified of setting off their house alarm, Big Sis felt she had to intervene. As the older wiser sister, she thought it would be therapeutic for them to work through their alarm-o-phobia by writing about it, in the hope that they could move on with their lives and stop cowering at the front door as they prepare to turn off their house alarm.

And so, here is the unvarnished reality of life as an alarm-o-phobic as told by Middle and Little Sis.

Middle Sis is Bedridden

I am the textbook definition of an alarm-o-phobic (if there really is such a thing) – my stomach clenches, my heart rate goes up and I start sweating at just the thought of setting off our house alarm. This combined with the incoherent thought processes that happen when the alarm actually does go off, I think, qualifies my condition as a real “thing.”

I have no idea why I am afflicted with this condition, but thinking back, I believe I can identify a significant contributing event. It occurred many years ago when I was visiting my parents and they set the alarm as they left the house, forgetting that I was asleep in their guest room. As I awoke to them closing the door and hearing the last few beeps of the alarm turning on, panic set in. After considering if I could roll off the bed and crawl out of the bedroom to disarm the alarm, I soon realized that the only way to avoid setting off the alarm was to lay still in bed so as to not trigger the motion detector. These were two of the longest hours of my life that remain seared in my brain and all I can say is thank heavens I didn’t have to go to the bathroom…

Given the line of work my husband was in, we are very security conscious in our house and have had an alarm for many years. And even though I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually set it off, I still have heart palpitations just thinking about it happening. It also doesn’t help that, when the monitoring people call when the alarm does go off, my mind goes blank and I become incapable of answering any questions, let alone remembering a password, which leads to them becoming very suspicious and on one occasion did lead to the police being sent to our home.

But fear not, I think modern technology may have come to my rescue in the form of a smart home security system we installed a few months ago. This means no more having to remember a passcode as the alarm counts down the seconds until it goes off, it can all be done using an app on your phone. I’m not going to lie, the process of getting the smart system set up was not easy. It involved a lot of passwords and questions that I will never remember the answers to, but it was worth all the stress and anxiety and has also brought some unexpected benefits to my life:

• I can set set the thermostat temperature from my phone which has allowed me to wrest back control of our house temperature from my husband.
• Doors can be locked remotely, so if I forget to lock the doors one tap on my phone will lock them from anywhere. This is a real bonus for we seniors, the trick is you have to remember that you forgot to lock the door…
• The doorbell camera allows me to see who is at the door without opening it and even has a microphone so that I can talk to whoever is there. I haven’t yet used the microphone but will try it out one day, maybe when an unsuspecting Amazon delivery driver shows up.

Overall, I feel that this new security system has changed my life and I believe with concerted daily meditation and journaling, one day soon my alarm-o-phobia will be just a distant memory. I can only hope…

Little Sis Meets the Police

Little Sis here. I would like to mention that I too am very much an alarm-o-phobic and I have had several experiences much like Middle Sis.

Our first system was at the time, the latest in technology. We were ahead of the curve, leaders in the world of home security and tech savvy….. well, sort of. I don’t know how many times I set it off by accident, and much like Middle Sis, we had the odd visit from the police. I won’t deny that it was embarrassing but they were always friendly and professional and they usually came into the house just to make sure we were safe.

As outdated as it was, both my husband and I were comfortable with our system. Police visits were a thing of the past and we moved on with our lives. Imagine my surprise then when I came home from work one day to an excited husband who had responded to a cold call from our internet provider. We had just agreed to purchase a new security system! My heart jumped into my throat and I just about passed out.

Twenty year old memories of the installation of our first system came flooding back, and I was terrified at the thought of learning a new system. My brain was twenty years older and adaptability was not one of my strong points, but it was too late to do anything. Hubby had signed on the dotted line. We were committed.

Turns out my fears were unfounded….sort of. It actually took a very short time to install the hardware, that is considering that my husband was hovering and asking a lot of questions. This is normal behavior for him and I am used to it, but I am fully aware that others might find it annoying. (If you think I am kidding, just any sales person or contractor we have ever dealt with or hired. They are usually ready for a nap after my husband has finished asking his questions.) To his credit, the technician politely said “I am more than happy to answer all your questions after I have completed the installation.” I could see he was starting to lose his patience, but he was very understanding.

So after the alarm was finally installed it was time for the tutorial and that is when I broke into a cold sweat. This was the true test…. Could we actually take the leap into twenty first century technology? Could we leave the dark ages behind? It turns that the answer was a resounding YES! It was really easy and I was totally amazed at what the alarm was capable of. I felt like a kid in a Candy Store.

Finally, just to be sure, we went over every possible scenario we could think of so as to avoid setting the alarm off by accident. A major concern was the possibility that Biscuit might be able to accidentally set the alarm off. (She doesn’t do well with uniforms, particularly the police.) The potential trauma was a very real concern.

Actually, it turns out that Biscuit was more traumatized at the thought that she might lose her status as our back up alarm system. We reassured her that she was in no danger of losing her job, but rather was an important enhancement to our new system. She seemed satisfied and continues to regularly practice her barking skills.

So far, we’re quite happy all round. Hubby and Biscuit and I have settled into an easy routine. Our system isn’t quite as advanced as Middle Sis. We think we might go that way, but just want to see how many times we set the alarm off in error before we do anything. I guess we’ll wait to see how many times the police show up.

We plan on publishing a new post every Monday so stay tuned for our next one entitled “Going To The Chapel Of Love”