To be fair, I haven’t exactly lost my backpack. It’s hanging up in the laundry room. But it has — finally — worn out.
Have you ever had one of those pieces of clothing or accessories that you love? It’s your favorite and/or has lasted practically forever and you just know you’re going to cry when it finally wears out?
About fifteen years ago, I found this great, dark green backpack. It was heavy canvas, had a ton of pockets, and has worn like iron for all these years. I had it all through High School and most of college; its hauled books, countless groceries, and even a cat or two. Back when I was in school, it was my portable locker. (I seldom kept anything but my coat in my locker. My partner wasn’t exactly known for securing it when she was done. In fact, it was actually pretty risky even being at the locker whenever she was there. More than once, I had a heavy book dropped on my head because she was in such a god-forsaken rush.)
In college, it held martial arts equipment, fencing equipment, books, gym clothes, photography things, and incredibly huge books. More than once over all those years, I emptied it out and used it to go buy groceries.
Lately, it’s been hauling my tools, clipboards, jacket, extra drinks, and other items for work. It’s been thrown under tables, hung up on rough pipes, and exposed to who-knows-what.
So it’s not like it didn’t have every right to eventually fall apart. But all the same, it did.
The neighbors have been letting their cats loose, which doesn’t sit well with any of my girls. I should have known and hung the bag up. It didn’t help that I played hooky on Tuesday for a variety of reasons, which always makes things worse. Either way, I left it on the floor and right in harm’s way. So, Echo kind of expressed her irritation by anointing it. I didn’t think, sprayed a little Simple Solution on it, and threw it in the washer like I’ve done for years.
And… it now has several huge holes in it.
Which leaves me with the task of finding a brand new bag that will (hopefully) last me as long as this one has. In the meantime, I am bummed about loosing my favorite bag!

