I like purses.
I have a lot of them.
Different shapes. Different colors. And…different sizes.
They make me happy.
But I must admit I tend to gravitate toward larger bags.
For me…size does matter (you knew it had to show up somewhere in this one).
I’m not sure why. It’s not like I put more in a large bag than any other bag (the proverbial “evening” bag being the exception since you’re lucky to fit a lipstick and license in those).
I put the same stuff in every purse that I assume other women put in theirs. Wallet, checkbook, phone, lip stick(s), Advil bottle (filled with a variety of pain relieving substances), pen, and reading glasses.
Oh…and tissues, card holder (with my She Thinks business cards), tic tacs and loose change of course.
And sometimes my e-reader. (You never know when you’ll have the chance to finish a chapter.)
And a sweater or scarf. (You never know when you might get chilled.)
I think a big purse makes me feel secure. Like I have options.
Ya know…the option to carry more stuff should I have the need to pick stuff up and carry it somewhere.
Maybe it’s a girl thing.
Or a mom thing (God knows, we moms seem to carry a lot of stuff).
But there are women out there who use really small bags and seem to have everything they need in them.
I admire that. I couldn’t do it. But I admire them for it (it makes me think they must be VERY organized and efficient).
The other day someone (a guy) saw me with one of my big purses slung over my shoulder and asked me if I always carried my “luggage” around with me.
I wasn’t offended. Guys don’t understand big purses. They’re intimidated by them. Like they’re scare of ‘em (or they’re scared of what they might find in them).
How many times have you heard a guy say “what do you carry in that thing?”
As if we carried a bunch of deep dark scary stuff like poisons or snakes or bags and bags of feminine hygiene products that we’re ready to whip out in public at any time.
But the bag in question wasn’t that big. It was a hobo bag and it was just a bit stretched out from months of swinging it from my shoulder to the floor, or over into the backseat of the car, or onto the end of the banister where it lives when I’m at home.
But the comment did give me reason to take a good hard look at what had become my “go to bag”…and I was forced to admit that it did look BIG.
Or rather…long. Months of daily use and abuse had caused it to look more like a woven laundry sack (albeit with a nice leather strap and matching leather bottom) than a stylish shoulder bag.
Not what I was going for.
Apparently I had become too lazy to change my bag and I had entered into a purse rut.
Normally, I love to change my purses to go with my outfits. It’s part of the game of mixing and matching different colors and textures to make a full outfit, with purses adding another piece to the puzzle.
But over the course of the winter I seem to have ignored all the other bags lining the top shelves of my closet…and my one “go to bag” was obviously now showing the worse for wear.
I’m so embarrassed.
I guess I have no choice but to seek out one of the many big purses I have at the top of my closet, so I have the option to fill it with lots more stuff.
I don’t know what (if anything) purse size means. Maybe that you’re an important person with important things that you need to carry to important places?
I’m trying to come up with a reason as to why I carry bigger purses. Is it because I need that much room? Is it because I have so many things that I need to lug around?
Is it because I’m important?
Nah.
I love purses, and usually I adopt the motto of “the bigger the better”.
I have plenty of smaller purses that I think are adorable, I just don’t use them as much as the gigantic ones.
Why? Because I have shit to carry that I need!
Actually, I only have a few things that I actually need to carry.
My wallet (which is pretty tiny) my book or e-reader (which goes everywhere with me), my phone, and my keys.
Other than that, there’s really nothing I need to take with me.
So why do I insist on carrying around an oversized purse?
Because they’re pretty.
There’s really no other reason than that.
It’s personal preference.
I guess I like that I have the room to shove snacks (I like to carry snacks everywhere in case I get hungry, because if I get hungry I get cranky. I’m basically 3 years old), or a sweater (I’m also basically 78).
But as long as I can carry those few things that I need (like my book), then I’m fine.