You never forget your first. I was just a dumb kid working off my scooter payments by helping out around Old Man Niemann’s corner store. My head was full of big dreams, my heart was full of angst, and my gut was full of Twizzlers. Sometimes it seemed like I’d never grow up.

Then, one hazy June evening, after closing time but before it got dark, Old Man Niemann told me to get the new vacuum cleaner out of the back and run it around the store. I went into the back and saw…her. Shorter than me, but standing so tall. A vision in gray. The Dyson DC14 Total Clean Vacuum. That was the beginning of my Dyson summer.

I took her in my hand. She let me lead her around the floor. Her wild, untamed 250 airwatts of cleaning power took my breath away. I’d never seen anything like her root cyclone technology or her lifetime HEPA filtration. The world around us faded away. And so we danced.

From that day on, we were inseparable. Long, lazy afternoons holding her in my arms. Restless nights dreaming about her. Old Man Niemann had to threaten to fire me if I didn’t stop vacuuming and straighten the potato chips or wipe out the ice-cream cooler. I only tore myself away from the DC14 just long enough to keep my job – and to keep seeing her.

I learned a lot that summer. A lot about life. A lot about love. A lot about cleaning upholstery with her Mini-Turbine Tool. We went our separate ways eventually – me off to college, her still stuck in that drab old corner store that she did so much to brighten. I don’t know where she is today, or what she’s doing. But I like to think, every once in a while, something reminds her of that skinny kid who used to spin her around the room. And I like to think she smiles.

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