Debbie's mother Barbara was approaching her 83rd birthday and was considering moving into a nursing home. She did not want to leave her home, which was only a mile away from Debbie and her husband. It was only that Debbie wanted her mother to be safer, and she knew that a nursing home would provide the home security that living alone in a large house couldn't provide.

The neighborhood was not in a bad area. It was more owed to the fact that Debbie felt like her mother needed company and was lonely. After Debbie and Barbara had a discussion over the issue, Debbie learned that Barbara was actually very content where she was and was very hesitant to move into a nursing home which would be over 20 minutes away from Debbie. The fact remained that an 83 year old living alone presented its own challenges and even dangers. Apart from her age and some loss of vision, Barbara was a fully functioning person who simply didn't move as fast or see as well as she once did. She otherwise had all her faculties. Along with that was a large amount of independence and stubbornness.

Debbie started to consider letting off of her mother about the decision to move into a nursing home. She did not want to upset her. Yet, she simply could not get it out of her mind. She would lose sleep thinking about her mother living alone in that four-bedroom home, located at the end of a cul-de-sac with little lighting and antiquated front and back doors. Barbara already had a home alarm system but it was from the 1960's. Debbie could not stop imagining a group of young men kicking in the back door while her mother watched television in the living room or slept in the house in which Debbie was raised.

Debbie decided to educate herself about home security upgrades. She researched online for days. She eventually came up with a plan and approached Barbara with the idea. Debbie and her husband would upgrade the front and back doors, check the window locks, install a couple more dead bolts, and talk with Barbara's neighbors. Barbara surprisingly agreed.

The first move was purchasing an up-to-date home security system. The next move was upgrading the exterior doors. Both dated back to 1953, when the house was built The doors were decently heavy, but were not of solid wood nor of any metal. The doorframes were also flimsy and barely connected to the wall studs. She had the door installers add longer screws in the doorframe, connecting it more securely to the wall. They replaced the front door altogether, opting for a metal door with one small window at the top. They replaced the glass panels in the backdoor, putting in stronger glass. Then Debbie and her husband added a dead bolt to both the front and backdoor. The dead bolts were secured with longer screws than were provided with the dead bolts. While Debbie's husband checked the window's locks, Debbie visited with Barbara's neighbors. She already knew a few of them, but several were new to the neighborhood. She conveyed to them her concern about her mother and asked them to keep a special eye out for her house. All kindly agreed. Lastly, Debbie's husband installed a flood light over the garage door, directed toward the driveway and unlit cul-de-sac.

Debbie felt much better than she did before. She had given her mother the gift of home security and she could now sleep easy at night, knowing that her 83 year old mother was protected and looked after by her neighbors.