Mama's Magic Bag

Back in 2010 I came across a bag that I thought looked pretty cool. Mostly, I was smitten with the flowery pattern. But a cool pattern does not always guarantee a cool bag.

And it's always hard to tell from a tiny picture online whether a bag will actually function well in everyday life. How many pockets are inside? What size are they? Do they have zippers? Where will my phone go? All these questions remained unanswered. Naturally, I sent the link to my husband and asked his opinion. He suggested I pass, as it didn't look like it had many pockets and cost over $70. He usually has good instincts when it comes to this type of decision.

Still, I kept revisiting the website to stare at the picture, read and re-read the description, and hold my little wooden ruler up in the air trying to imagine exactly what a 12"x17"x5" bag would look like in real life. That is much larger than any bag I'd ever used before, but I started to rationalize it by thinking that I could use it as a purse/diaper bag instead of having both and switching back and forth all the time, depending on whether the kids were with me. Finally, I made the ultimate wishy-washy non-decision and added it to my online wish list. If someone bought it for me, great. If not, it was not meant to be.

(Please note that this fatalistic mentality does not always work. I also added a Kindle to my online wish list and no one bought it. So now I torture myself daily over whether to buy the damn thing myself.)

Well, someone did buy it. On Christmas morning I unwrapped it and immediately thought, "Wow, that's big," just as Minh said, "Wow, that's big."

But big does not have to be bad. Big is just different. I've been using it for 2 months now and and have been actively trying to promote its image as Mama's Magic Bag. I like to think of it as something mysterious, containing hidden treasures a-la-Mary Poppins' carpetbag.

But really, it's just a big bag.

It has enabled me to completely abandon the diaper bag and that feels fantastic. My new bag contains the usual purse stuff -- wallet, phone, lip balm, sunglasses, tissues, gum, etc. But it also holds diapers, wipes, a bib, a travel place mat, snacks, sticker books, and crayons. I even have room in there for a small First Aid kit. When I stick a bottle of water in the side pocket, I feel like I could live out of my bag for about 3 days. It's a nice feeling, actually.

The only problem with this new bag seems to be that the more carry-space I have available, the more crap I seem to need to lug around. When I first started using the bag it was a nearly empty cavern and if you spoke into it you'd hear your echo come back to you. Suddenly, it's pretty darn full and I wonder how I ever used a smaller bag. My fear now is that at some point I'll need an even bigger bag. At this rate, by the time I am 40 I'll be lugging around a bag the size of a Prius. But at least then I'll have room to carry around the Kindle that I think we all know I'm going to buy before too long.