Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Farewell Old Friend

A couple of days ago, a beloved and long-time part of our family coughed, wheezed and then gasped its final breath while out in the garage.  We stood there staring down at the corpse and and gave a collective sigh of sadness.  "It had a long and productive life" we told each other.

No, I'm not talking about Lucy,  the kids claim she's indestructible,
I'm talking about The Blue Pig. 
The Blue Pig was the best damn vacuum that ever lived.  It had been part of my life ever since I could remember.   Growing up, we had 2 vacuums, a basic upright (Kirby?  Hoover?) and The Blue Pig.  I think my parents got The Blue Pig even before I was born and that's been 4 decades plus change.  I have no idea who named it The Blue Pig but we never called it anything else.  If anyone said, "Get the vacuum" we knew to get the upright.

When my parents divorced, my dad got custody of The Blue Pig.  When he died, I called dibs and brought The Blue Pig home where I could give it a happy, loving home.  Oh sure, there are SOME people who think I didn't take it out as often as I should have but rest assured, The Blue Pig KNEW it was wanted, needed and loved.  TheManTheMyth would even take The Blue Pig to work with him because it was a good little shop vac.  

And then one day, another vacuum, that %$#*! vacuum, arrived at our home and The Blue Pig was relegated to the garage and suddenly, it started showing its age.  Wheels would fall off, the cord became frayed, the latch had to be held shut with duct tape and the receptacle bag started to rot.  But the little Blue Pig was courageous and tried to prove it could still Get the Job Done.  And it tried.  It tried so hard but we knew it was just a matter of time.  We could hear the struggles in the motor.  And then several days ago, while TheManTheMyth was cleaning up the Factory garage, The Blue Pig's little heart (motor) coughed and sputtered, there was a tortured gasp and then all was silent.

TheManTheMyth gently picked up The Blue Pig and laid it in the back of his work truck.  The Blue Pig would be laid to rest at an undisclosed location, most likely the dumpster on the jobsite.

With the demise of The Blue Pig goes yet another part of my childhood.  I had always thought The Blue Pig would always be around, like Lucy, but The Blue Pig turned out to be mortal after all.

Farewell, Blue Pig. There will never be another as good as you.  You were Family.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, I've never even seen a vacuum like that before! How sad. I bet you it had more powerful suction than some of these fancy ones of today. I wonder why it was ever named the Blue Pig? I love the retro blue color.

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  2. The contention was never about whether you took it out or not, but whether you USED it. Can I tell you how I really thought you were talking about Lucy for the first couple of sentences and then realized you weren't??

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  3. Listen here, Bubbles. You've been listening to tales about my housekeeping abilities. Lies! All lies, I say as a dustbunny goes hopping by.

    Joann, I never knew it by any other name. My mom told me that The Blue Pig was the 1st purchase she and my dad made on an installment plan when she was pregnant with my older sister and that it would cost about $1000 in today's money. I think we all got their money's worth.

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  4. I had an ancient electra lux long long ago but I don't think it had anything on that Blue Pig!

    R.I.P.

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  5. I would have a hard time parting with it even broken!

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