not my favorite night

I am startled out of sleep at approximately 1:30 a.m. There is a momentary confusion--is someone seriously knocking on my door in the middle of the night? Like--pounding hard knocking. I get out of bed and put on some more appropriate clothing. I peek down through the blinds. There are two men standing on my front porch (really more like the tiny slab of cement in front of the door). They are standing in the rain, wearing dark clothing, and I'm pretty sure their heads are covered by hoodies. What. The heck. After a few moments I watch them walk down my driveway and turn right. They change their minds after a few steps and turn to start walking in another direction, another house. I'm not sure what to do, so I walk downstairs.

Joe is in Colorado. I don't know why, but I call him. "There are two guys wearing hoodies knocking at the front door." He tells me to hang up and call the police. I feel stupid. Is there really a threat?

I call 911.

She asks me for the address of the emergency. I think that's exactly what she said. I hesitate, because I don't even know if it's an emergency, but I go ahead and tell her my address. Then I say, "I don't even know if it's an emergency, but I'm home alone with four kids and two men in dark clothing are knocking on my door. I think they walked away, but only to knock on other doors."

She tells me that there is an alarm going off in my neighborhood and that two officers are trying to find the house.

I'm almost delirious, my heart is still pounding, and I'm MAD. They woke me up at 1:30 in the morning  because they can't figure out what house is beeping? "I don't see a police car. Definitely no flashing lights," I tell her. "It's the middle of the night. They don't want to wake the whole neighborhood up," she says. Thanks a lot.

Joe calls me; I explain the situation.

I try, unsuccessfully, to go back to sleep.

I am tired today. These days I get tired pretty easily, but this is a weary, exhausted, didn't-have-to-happen tired. I keep replaying the whole thing in my mind. Who knocks like that at 1:30 in the morning? Who would open their door to strangers in dark clothing? What if I had opened the door while holding a weapon? Would I have been shot?

I'm thankful that Ammon is easy-going. We ate an early lunch and I was able to take a two hour nap. We are all safe, and that is what matters, but I can't help but wonder: isn't there a better way?