Matt and his girlfriend Karissa are here for a few days en route to a graduation week with a whole host of friends at the beach. They brought me a Mother's Day gift. They were very anxious for me to open it before we headed out to dinner, but since it was already quite late and we were starving, I promised to open it after dinner, grabbed my fanny pack, and we hurried off to dinner.There are some fashions I am a slave to, but those who know me cannot miss the fact that when the fanny pack rage of the 80's came and went, I got stuck. I love fanny packs... though I call them belt packs because I never rotate it around to my fanny.... I carry it proudly on my small frame hanging it off my belly. I have a belt pack for all occasions. Small ones for when I just need my phone and keys, medium ones for when my camera might be handy, and mega packs that are like small suitcases strapped to my midriff for travel. I also have a velvet dress belt pack for formal occasions, and my latest acquisition is a kayaking belt pack that will keep my valuables dry should we flip and drown.
Over the years, I have received more than subtle hints that the days of the fanny pack went with the dinosaurs and that perhaps I missed the fashion news alert. Believe me, it is not that I am blind and don't realize I am the only one still sporting a fanny pack. It is that they are so comfortable and don't hurt my neck or shoulder muscles like purses. They leave hands free to cup daffodils and gently hold them close to sniff....or to pet a passing dog, or point at a distant hawk. My kids have not known a day that Mom has not been seen in a fanny pack, thus I assumed they just considered it what mothers do.
Karissa and Matt watched me anxiously as I tore open the gift after dinner. There was a magnificent and beautiful purse, with a long shoulder strap, and lots of zipped compartments. It was small so that my small frame would not struggle to hoist it, and had a little duck in the corner. It was a fine purse, I could tell that, not being a purse connoisseur, because it came with a registration card. I can tell you that no fanny pack ever came with a registration card.
Karissa has met me only once before, but apparently my fanny pack had made a deep impression on her. She assured me, that being thin, I could get away with wearing a fanny pack, but perhaps I would enjoy this lovely purse too? Matt and Asherel were both nodding vigorously and I laughed. I remembered my dad and how he used to ride a recumbent bicycle (which is like a couch on wheels) wearing a spandex bee suit- orange and black spandex when spandex was just coming out. At the time, I thought I would die of mortification should my friends glance out the window when he buzzed by.... but now, it is one of my favorite, quintessential memories of my dear old dad.
Have my kids been cowering behind my fanny-pack embellished body? I suspect so.
I love the purse and can't wait to transfer things out of my fanny pack. But I bet that if someone asked my children to paint a picture of their mom that embodied all that she is to them, it would be a stick figure wearing a fanny pack as big as the heart of God.
Yep, it would. :)
ReplyDeleteI like Karissa.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the brand on the purse? I may love Karissa.