This Dremel was a freebie I received from the DIY Network back in 2003.
It might look like I broke my own rule about accepting freebies. But this tool arrived long before we adopted that policy — and long before our blog, our first house, or even our relationship. I didn’t meet Sherry until 2004 and we didn’t start dating until 2005, so this Dremel predates all of that.
How did a single, 21-year-old college student living in an apartment end up with a power tool from a home improvement network? The short answer: I was an intern.
That photo is me at the end of my summer advertising internship in New York City — August 2003, the day before the citywide blackout. Clearly I was making the most mature choice of the day by hugging the giant bubblegum machine in the lobby. The office where I worked was the same building where the movie Big was filmed — the toy company where Tom Hanks’ character worked — so there was a playful vibe in the air.
I was a Television Media Buying Intern. In plain terms, I helped with negotiating ad placement and rates with TV networks. The teams I worked with were regularly courted by the networks, which meant freebies, lunches, and event invites were common. As the unpaid intern, I occasionally received leftover swag — which is how the Dremel ended up in my hands.
By the end of the summer I’d collected an unexpected assortment of items: an E.T. DVD, a History Channel beach towel, tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls tape a concert for the Oxygen network, and that DIY Network Dremel. My team was all women, so perhaps they assumed the male intern would appreciate a power tool.
I didn’t know what to do with it. From the box art, it looked like something for crafting or whittling — not something a college senior headed for an advertising career would use. I never expected to fall into the world of DIY or make it my profession, so I passed the Dremel on to my dad.
Recently he decluttered before a move and handed it back to me. I accepted it gladly — not because I need another Dremel (I received a newer model as a Father’s Day gift last year), but because it’s a small, funny reminder of how life can take surprising turns. Maybe that old tool was a subtle omen — I was too busy hugging gumball machines to notice.
Perhaps I’m reading into it. Hopefully my complimentary E.T. DVD and History Channel towel aren’t predicting a future as an alien abduction victim or a historic sunbather. Even if the Dremel didn’t cause my career path, I can credit that internship for leading to a full-time job, which ultimately led to meeting a copywriter named Sherry — and everything that followed.
Have you ever regifted a tool and later reclaimed it? Or been handed something random that, in hindsight, felt like a symbol of the life you’d grow into? Have you ever posed with a giant gumball machine or lounged on a History Channel towel? I can’t be the only one with a story like that.
Psst — I look pretty tan in these old photos, but Sherry and I are now pale, suburban parents. Proof here and here.