déjà new

Last year M calls me with the question, “What do you think I should do?”  She is cleaning out a closet and comes across an unopened box.  She had taken it from her old house when she moved into her new house twenty years ago.  M opens it.  It is from Matouk, makers of fine, expensive linens.  In it is a beautiful duvet cover she must have ordered at some point, though she has no recollection of it.  The duvet cover is monogrammed.  But Matouk has made a mistake.  It should read mCt.  Instead, it’s mTc.  M's husband’s first initial is in the middle, rather than their last name initial.    I have no good answer for her, only another question:  “How could you not have opened the box when it arrived 20 years ago?” 

Now here’s my story.

Let’s start with this:   my apartment is small.  Other than my room and the coat closet, I have three closets.  Good by New York standards, but still, not many closets.

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned that she had gotten a stick vacuum cleaner.  She raved about its lightness and ease of use.  I hate vacuuming and though my Miele is small, it is still heavy.  For daily use, I think the stick vacuum would be perfect.  I research stick vacuums, find the best one, and order it.  I chose a Hoover Corded. I would have preferred the rechargeable but that one is twice as much.

Finally it arrives.  As Alexander is gone, I ask the handyman to help with its assembly.  It isn’t much, but I know it will take Mike under five minutes and me over thirty.

I try it out; it works fine.  I go to put it away in the big front closet.  This is the closet that holds off-season coats, Alexander’s hang-up things, Costco big-boxed items, a step stool, and some other random things.  I take out the step stool to make room for the vacuum and there, next to the step stool, in a closet I open every single day, is another stick vacuum.  The more expensive Hoover corded.  The one I had to have in 2009 and obviously never use.

I take it out, turn it on, and it starts just fine.

I pack up the one I just bought.  Ship it off to Amazon.  And wonder…well, so many things.