My grandfather probably gave me a Classic in the 90s, according to my mother, but I wasn't ready for it and I didn't know how to take advantage of it other than an extra toy.
In April 2006 my father took me to a department store and bought me a Swisstool before I traveled to my first job. My father was an office worker and didn't usually use knives, but he still made the effort to find one that he thought would be useful to me in the future, It costed his salary for that fortnight. Since I was too young and naive, a TSA agent took it from me on another bus trip later that year without explaining that I could carry it in the baggage legally, he made me assume there would be no way I could keep it, so they confiscated it.
Years after my father passed away, now as a specialist engineer I bought to myself the victorinox ratchet as an emergency measure as some bulgar stole my toolbox on another city last year. I was impressed by the quality, so I got a Spirit X. It blowed my mind, an impressive piece of machinery that just get the job done.
Then, I suddenly remembered the feeling of the one that my father gave me. This is the tool I was looking for, the perfect and only tool I need as a specialist, It took me 19 years for me to appreciate the amazing gift he had given me with his heart.
So, although it's not strictly my first knife nor the original model I had in my hands, I really think this as my first one, given by my father wherever he is, and I carry it with all the pride and joy I can.
Obviously I got an old Swisstool to my shelf, and outside work I now have my Explorer as EDC, in the kitchen my SwissChamp, in my desk my Cybertool, but Man, I tell you, I always take my Spirit X and smile to the sky.
