Losing my mind over a Dyson filter

I knew eventually it would happen, but I didn’t realize it would happen so soon. I, Valerie McLaughlin, have officially lost my mind.

It all started when I cleaned the filter of my Dyson. It has been more six months since we bought our wonder vacuum cleaner and it was time to clean the filter. I’ve been putting off the task for weeks. I finally gave in and cleaned it earlier this week.

But for whatever reason, I thought the filter came in three pieces: plastic cover, sponge filter and plastic lid. After I washed the plastic cover and sponge filter, I went searching for the plastic lid. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I looked on the utility shelves in and around the laundry room. I searched through a nearby garbage bag (with two stinky diapers, I may add). I searched in and around the washer and dryer. I searched for a good 15 minutes. Despite the fact I took the filter apart and washed in our small laundry room, I couldn’t find the plastic cover anywhere.

Frustrated and becoming increasingly angry, I gave up and took a break.

Hoping that new eyes could help me find the darn thing, I got dear husband to look that evening. He too became frustrated and increasingly angry. He searched for an hour before he gave up.

Does it even exist? He asked me.

Yes it does, I told him. It has to. I saw a lid, I said with all certainty.

Are you playing a joke? If you have, that’s okay. I’d be relieved.

No, I replied.

I was serious. If this was a joke, it would surely be a stupid one. Who’d joke about losing a lid of a Dyson filter? But then I started thinking. Was I dreaming of said lid?

The mystery was still unsolved when we went to bed.

The next day, confused and befuddled, I decided to take action. On the way home from a mommy and me music class, I stopped into a local vacuum shop. After stumbling over the owner’s dog and my own words in trying to describe my dilemma, the shop owner started flipping through manuals, trying to answer my question. It took him opening the filter compartment of a similar stand-up Dyson to solve the mystery. Plastic cover. Check. Sponge filter. Check. No plastic lid.

What the hell? Where was the lid? No lid? You've got to be kidding me.

After thanking the shop owner, I quickly high tailed it out of the store with darling daughter in tow.

I swear that I saw a plastic lid. I’m pretty sure I did. But now, I don’t know what I thought I saw. I think I need more sleep and stop dreaming and searching for non-existent Dyson filter lids.