Here’s a question most folks have never thought about.
If you woke up at two in the morning to the sound of glass breaking downstairs, what could you reach without getting out of bed?
For most people the answer is a lamp, a glass of water, and a phone that’s charging across the room. That’s not much to work with when your heart’s pounding and you can’t see your hand in front of your face.
Your nightstand is the most important piece of furniture in your house in an emergency. Not for a break-in alone, either: a power cut, a storm, a fall in the night. Here’s what belongs on it.
1. Your phone, charged
Not across the room. Not in the kitchen. Right beside you, plugged in. If anything happens at night, 911 is the first call you make, and you shouldn’t have to go looking for it.
2. A flashlight
The power’s often the first thing to go. A small flashlight with good batteries, kept in the same spot every night, so your hand finds it in the dark.
3. Your car keys
This one surprises people. Press the panic button on your key fob and your car horn blares and the lights flash until you stop it. If your car’s parked close enough, it works from your bedroom. It wakes the neighbors and tells anyone outside that somebody’s home and awake.
4. Something loud
A marine air horn, the kind boaters carry, is about the loudest thing you can keep by the bed. Nobody wants to stay in a house that suddenly sounds like a ship’s coming through the living room. Point it away from yourself, and use short blasts.
5. Your glasses and your shoes
Folks forget these. You can’t read a phone or find a door without your glasses, and you don’t want to be walking over broken glass or out into the cold in bare feet. Shoes right by the bed, glasses on the nightstand.
June, my wife, keeps hers in the same spot every night, and so do I. It takes ten seconds to set up and you never have to think about it again.
Cole’s Rule: Set it up tonight, so you never have to think at two in the morning.
What’s on your nightstand right now? Hit reply and tell me. I can’t always write back to everyone, but I read every single letter that comes in.
And if you know someone who’d be better off reading these letters, maybe a neighbor, your sister, or a friend who lives on her own, forward this on to them. They can sign up here:
See you Sunday.
— Cole