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My First Splurge
Serena Williams, tennis champion

I'll never forget: I was staying at the Essex House hotel in New York City for the U.S. Open. My sisters and I were walking along Lexington Avenue, and I said, "Oh, look at the doggy store! I want a dog." I decided on Jackie the Jack Russell because she was $1,800—less expensive than the cocker spaniel. (Now she has a diamond collar that cost more than she did.) I won the Open that year for the first time. I don't know which was a better souvenir, the title or Jackie. She completes me. It's pathetic. I hope someone else will do that soon, but for now, my little Jackie is the one.