I need a llama or perhaps one of those pack mules prospectors used during the California Gold Rush. I was probably a nomad in a previous life, because I carry everything with me. I mean everything. Jilda carries purses as big as she is, but there is never much in them.
I thought about getting one of those roller cases like airline pilots use, but I couldn’t get all my stuff in it. I carry a backpack instead.
My backpack weighs 60 pounds, Jilda has weighed it. If you look inside, you would find a flashlight, small tool kit, first-aid kit, sewing kit, and over the counter meds for any condition from headache to heartburn. Then there’s my passport, checkbook, nail clippers and daily planner.
Of course my Palm device is in there, because it has the phone number, address and birthday of everyone I know. My mp3 player has 10 full-length audio books, and at least one hundred of my favorite songs. And then there’s the digital recorder I use to do interviews or record interesting sounds such as birds, rain, thunder or the sound of my muscles as they tear from carrying around my backpack.
Oh yes, I have a digital camera with a lens the size of a can of Campbell’s soup, only the Hubble Deep Space Telescope can get a better picture of Mars. Then there are the pens, pencils, paper clips, sunglasses, razor and toothbrush. There are also chargers and replacement batteries for all those devices. I almost forgot, snack bars. Jilda makes sure they are the healthy kind, but every once in awhile a Snickers bar finds it way in there.
I don’t carry a handgun, but muggers beware, I do have a slingshot, a small hatchet and pepper spray. Don’t judge, Jilda carries a shovel in the back of her car.
My backpack was sitting on the couch the other day and Jilda’s brother Ricky came over. He reached down to move it to the floor and almost pulled his arm out of his shoulder socket.
He asked if I carried the kitchen sink in there as he rubbed his shoulder. I told him no, but there might be a blender or microwave.
The folks at work make fun of me, so do friends and family. But if someone needs an antacid, tweezers or chainsaw, they come to me. You might ask, why I carry all that stuff?
Well, I have a saying that I live by: I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it, and not have it.
