“To get to know a woman

don’t look inside her heart,

just rummage through her handbag

the perfect place to start!

Handbags, whether large or small

tell our secrets, one and all.”

Excerpt from a poem HANDBAGS by Elijah A. Terry

This morning  I was preparing my handbag on my way to work, every day I carry a handbag to work,  I carry a handbag to go shopping, actually every time I leave the house, I carry my handbag with me.  Even when I am going for my early morning squash session, I leave my handbag in the car, in case I need something in it, in the three minutes it takes to drive from my house to the squash court.  Normally, I just pick a handbag that suits what I am wearing (to the best of my ability, I am not exactly a fashionista).  I then absent-mindedly switch the contents from the handbag I used previously to the one I will be using.   I carry roughly the same things every day.

Today was different, as I was packing my bag; I remembered how many times I complain that my bag is too heavy and my shoulders are feeling the strain.  Yet I “need” all the things in my bag and am at loath to leave any of them. So this got me thinking, does my bag define who I am today, are the contents in our bags a reflection of what we think, what we hold dear, how we have evolved? I decided to do an analysis of my bag.

In the past I would not have used a handbag, but stuffed whatever I needed in my pockets, or a school back or sports bag.  Now that I am older and wiser I need more to carry around, just in case.  So let us analyze the contents of my handbag and see if it is a direct reflection of me.

• A Check book holder with two check books, in case I need to write an emergency check or I need to go to the bank at random.
• A Wallet, with all my plastics such as credit card, all my club cards, frequent flyer cards though I am not travelling, cards for discounts etc. even when I have no intention of using them, just in case.   I think I use the wallet like a filing cabinet.
• A makeup bag; yes am trying to be more feminine, who knows, he might be coming just round the corner and I need to be looking the part right? Hilarious, if I wear any make up, it is lip gloss and once I apply it in the morning that is it for the day, till tomorrow.  I am pretty hopeless at this make up thing, but…. I carry a case with stuff just in case!
• A toiletry bag with ladies “things” a must, after all you may not have counted right.  Also a friend or stranger might be in need and you as a woman have a duty to assist another woman in trouble, as you would wish for them to assist you.  This one I am very decided on, it stays.
• Two books that I am currently reading.  One is a self-help, inspiration and learning book. The other is my fiction feel good comfort book.  Depending on my current mood so I keep them both in my bag just in case
• A camera: you never know when you will get a Kodak moment you need to always be prepared. All too often I found myself in situations where there is the right picture and I don’t have a way to capture the moment, so to avoid that…. Carry a Camera.
• Glasses: age is catching up and now to read anything close I need the assistance of reading glasses; the upside of wearing glasses? They make me look very intellectual.
• My iPod, my life, part of the air I breathe! Without music I do not exist, so a very critical part of my bag.  Of course it is the classic,  the bulky suitcase of iPods they are making smaller ones now, but no compromise here, my classic currently  holds 12,000 songs,  a song for all my moods and sub-moods, just in case!
•  With the iPod comes the headphones, apple no less.  They come in a nice little plastic case where they are safe from tangles and from the wires inside breaking causing one or the other speaker not to work. Only one  functioning speaker is not acceptable, I need  my music balanced and in stereo
• A bandage, not a plaster, though I think I have a few of those in my make up case, no a sports bandage, I have been playing a lot of sports lately so just in case of a sprain or a strain, the bandage is very necessary
•  A handkerchief, I am a person prone to sinuses and so need to have the hanky just in case of an allergic reaction to dust, pollen, individuals and their strong scents or perfumes.
• An Evohaler, okay until today I just called it an inhaler but Evohaler sounds so much more important don’t you think?  (Ventolin) I am asthmatic and though I don’t have many attacks, this one is a must at all times; you never know what will trigger an attack, so be prepared.
•  A Dettol Sanitizer: I know the latest trend says we should not be using hand sanitizers because they inhibit our bodies ability to create antibodies to counter the bacteria we encounter in everyday living, but am sure the study was not done in Kenya where everyone one shakes hands with you including the many men who relieve themselves in the nearest bush, and don’t always wash their hands before shaking mine. Then you see a lady on the side of the road selling fresh hot “Viazi Karai” (seasoned fried potatoes, a coastal delicacy) and you must have some.  For this level of germs the body needs assistance, hence the sanitizer.
• A business card holder, available for that professional connection that happens upon you when you least expect it.  I don’t want to be those people who tell you all that they do and their very senior position and then tell you that their business cards have not been made yet.  Makes you wonder if they are telling the truth? Credibility nayo?
•  My 2014 A6 diary; the one that I may use to pencil in things as I go along, it acts as a to-do list, to save a number or a thought or even an appointment;   to add to the credibility of my seriousness as a person.  Well, perception is everything right?
• Two or three pens, one for writing another for highlighting, another for emphasis, or decoration, just in case!
• Two mobile phones; a Safaricom and an Orange line.  Looking around me, I am behind, others have three or more just in case the network is bad on one phone they can use one of the others.
• Keys are the final essential.  I have a key chain, with every key for all the doors of my life, house keys, inside the house room keys, cupboard keys, draw keys for the office, keys I have not once used in 6 years, keys that I lost the locks for and so on.  The larger the bunch of keys, the more involved and important my life is.  I am the custodian of things kept behind closed doors, never mind those doors are never locked, but just in case they do get locked, I will still have access!

With this ends the saga of my handbag and to the weakening shoulders that have to carry this handbag; bear with me, please understand that this is a necessary evil. The things I carry are essential are there, just in case!