The Light's On But No One's Home

Have you ever done something for a really long time and thought nothing of it until one day you realize you're a moron?

My husband and I shared that moment on Friday night, thanks to our daughter.

We inherited a beautiful home 5 1/2 years ago from a wonderful woman who loved my husband as her own son. She was a very unique person and that is evident throughout the house.

In our room, next to our bed, is a light switch. She stayed in this room when sick with cancer and was bed-ridden for many months before her death. Naturally, we assumed that light switch was there to help her control a certain aspect of her room from the comfort of bed. First, we thought it was for the lamps. No. Perhaps the ceiling fan? No. Maybe she could turn off the music from the living room that was wired to play throughout the house? Nope.

We finally decided that maybe the switch just no longer works and really was meant for the lamps, like in a hotel.

I mentioned that Isabella is a curious little somebody. She's quite the prowler, especially in our house. She found that light switch about 4 months ago and has played with it pretty much daily since then. Why not? The dang thing didn't work anyway.

Friday night, we were all laying in bed watching America's Funniest Videos and she was fiddling with the light switch. All of the sudden, I noticed through the bathroom windows that the outside lights were flicking on and off.

Yes. The bedside light switch controlled the OUTDOOR LIGHTS! That means for 4 months, my daughter has been sending out what our neighbors must think is some strange SOS signal to UFO's or else we have really big electrical issues. My husband and I just stared as she continued playing with the switch, dumbfounded that it took the actions of a 22 month old to unlock the mystery of something so simple.