My Purse, as a metaphor for life

[caption id="attachment_148" align="alignright" width="150" caption="My actual Grown up purse-bag and chair not pictured"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_147" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Awesome Pirate Lunch box type purse from college"][/caption]



I was rifling through my purse this morning trying to find something and I came upon the realization that my purse, much like my life, has changed drastically in the four years since the pink one came along. I was never one to have a designer bag, so the actual purse has changed only out of necessity, but, the contents, has become as cluttered and seemingly incongruent as my interests, responsibilities and day to day goings on.

In college, my purse was a lot smaller for one thing, it was not entirely fashionable, though always fun, I had one that was a lunch box with a kitten and a pop tart on it. I would carry that, and a back pack, and be able to cart all necessary paraphernalia to and from campus with only a modicum of effort, and excess stuff usually amounted to bits of paper, packs of matches, granola bars, the last vestiges of a dime bag etc. all things you would expect to see in a college students bag.

Currently, my purse is as big as a bowling bag, or at least it was until the straps broke and I had to switch it for one tiny purse and an additional bag becuase that was all i had. In both purse and bag you will find the following:

1- Sandwich meat and cheese, for consumption at some point during the day

1 set of keys, which contain in themselves, 1 broken key to god knows what, a house key, car key, campfire office key and various wacky key chains to express my personality.

1 Prado wallet with missing Prado insignia, itself containing about 2 years worth of receipts, mostly to Starbucks, 1 condom though I'm not sure why, 14 different club cards with anywhere from 1 to 5 punches each, 2 expired gift cards 3 pictures from Lily’s baby days, and various debit/credit cards, oh, and a drivers license.

3 tampons, one is coming out of the wrapper and will need to be tossed. Damit.

1 bottle of Vitex/Chaste Berry herbal supplement to “support female health with Guaranteed Potency” to hopefully get my ovulating.

6 empty candy wrappers….I don’t want to talk about it.

5 Rainbow tattoo band aids in various sizes

3 Pens

1 Champage Cork –its like my little good luck charm from our wedding, I keep it with me out of nostalgia

1 Cell Phone

1 Reminder to renew our tabs

A butter knife-I don’t know why

50 more receipts, mostly to Starbucks
A deck of cards

2 tea bags-also designed to promote “Women’s health”

The twist off top to something

1 Red Lighter

7 pens, most missing a cap

13 cents in pennies

Miscellaneous beads?

Golds Gym key tag that never made it on to the keys

Cider House Rules by John Irving (really boring so far and some really graphic scenes of abortions, very strange book)

2 empty, and 1 full water bottles

2 empty, and needing to be washed Tupperware containers

Lily’s tooth brush (that’s where that went, we already bought a new one)

Deodorant

A pair of tiny underpants

A sweat shirt (mine)

A coat (lily’s which should be at preschool with her)

The last two are acctually balled up on a chair next to me in my cubicle because they were carted in along with everything else, but don’t completely fit in the purse/bag combo I am currently sporting. You can also bank on seeing me pull out a Camp Fire book or calendar, some sort of art project done by either myself, or Lily, and a netflix or two of Star Trek TNG because my husband is greedily going through the entire series in an effort to drive me insane.

So, if you were to look at the inside of my purse a mere 5 years ago, things would have been more simple, shallow even, interestingly, there may have been more toys in there, and it was, at one point, as I mentioned, a lunch box, but that’s just me being quirky. Now, my purse, while infinetly less interesting, has depth (literally) and purpose. It is not just to schlep around the necessities to get me through the day, but it nourishes, (food cards/sandwich) heals (bandaids) supports (vitamins and Start Trek DVD’s) and entertains (book and cards) My purse is multi faceted and interesting in its own way, though a bit cluttered and un-organized.

Just like my life.