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Daniel Kirk's avatar

I was sad to pitch my mom's 1950's model Electrolux when I cleaned out her house(s) after she passed on. It was held together with brittle old duct tape and though I loved the design of the thing, I couldn't justify keeping it for aesthetic reasons and nostalgia alone, since the cord, too was frayed well beyond the dictates of safety, and I'm not the kind of guy who would search for parts on eBay. Of course, in our New Jersey home, we have three modern vacuum cleaners, none of which works perfectly, and all of which are probably within a year of falling completely apart. I have a soft spot in my heart for that old vacuum cleaner, and the boy I once was, who watched my mom do her housekeeping duty with all the implements technology at the time could afford.

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Ashley Holt's avatar

I displayed a collection of various Electrolux canisters in my home for many years - all the most attractive models. Most of them still functioned, but their job at that stage was just to sit around and look pretty.

Do you have dreams about cleaning out your family home? I do all the time.

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Daniel Kirk's avatar

Nightmares, you mean! I've had a few, but generally my most intense dreams revolve around visiting my old loft in lower Manhattan, after it's been partially destroyed in some cataclysm or other. My waking thoughts on clearing out the childhood home usually just make me feel glad it's all over! I'm already forgetting the worst parts.

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Ashley Holt's avatar

In my dreams, there's usually another room or shed I haven't seen before, full of old furniture and spiderwebs like Miss Havisham's dining room.

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Daniel Kirk's avatar

Ha ha! I was just talking to the wife this morning about dreams where we discover a wing to our house we never knew was there. Sometimes in my version of this dream, I open a door to discover that there's a beautiful art deco theater there!

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