disaster!

When I was 18, I got a lucrative sales job with Vector Marketing, the selling arm of Cutco knives. I would travel to strangers' houses, armed with rope, leather, and knives (the latter to carve through the two formers, of course), and ended up selling $10,000 worth of knives to my fellow Mainers, which is quite a feat for one crazy summer! Besides quite a few interesting memories, I came away with a Homemaker set (this was before the advent of the "Ultimate" set), a Gourmet set (you should see the cleaver!), and a deep and abiding conviction that Cutco made the best knives in the world.

One of the reasons they are the best knives in the world is the innovative Double-D edge design, which kicks the pants off of normal serrated blades. The Double-D edge of a Cutco knife looks like the top half of a stop sign, with triangular points that actually touch the cutting surface and a razor-sharp blade ensconced between the points, parallel to the cutting surface and protected from dulling by the points. The points do not cut, but merely grasp the object at hand, allowing the blade to then slice through with an easy back-and-forth motion. Put another way: The knife is sharp.

As I sit here, nursing my injured thumb, I am reminded of the first time I forgot to respect the power of the Cutco blade. I was on my first "house call," and I got out a French Chef knife to display for the customer. For some inane reason, I decided to run my finger alongside the blade as I talked about how sharp it was... and then looked down to realize I had lightly cut the pad of my finger, and since it was a very straight (albeit shallow) razor cut, it would not stop bleeding. I held my fingers together under the table to hide the wound from the customer for the rest of the spiel, and it was still bleeding slightly when I left. This incident ingrained in me the need to respect the Cutco knife, and for the past 10 years, I think I have done a pretty good job. Sadly, however, various kitchen and household distractions combined yesterday afternoon to lower my guard... leading me to slicing my thumb open in pretty magnificent fashion with one of our newest (and therefore, sharpest) Cutco knives, the wedding present steak knife.

Luckily, Nick was there to help bandage me up and treat my psychological shock, and today I think I'm going to make it. It's pretty funny how little one really needs their non-dominant thumb. Honestly, it's the least useful of my ten digits, and it's mostly not a problem that it happens to be bandaged up and out of commission for the time being. The biggest things are that I am apparently unable to button my coats anymore, and I've just had to forget about wearing my left contact lens for the next few days. But besides these inconveniences, at least I get some coddling from my husband, and a newfound appreciation for those beautiful -- but deadly -- "best knives in the world."