Identity and Objects

[butterflydreaming]

From This 'n' That

I've had the wallet on the left for at least 20 years. I bought it from a craft show when I was a teenager not because I needed a wallet, but because it was leather and beautifully soft; I owned it for years before I started using it. Now it's my primary wallet. The leather, once a stone gray that I liked but didn't love, has aged to a dark color like stained hardwood that I do love.

Last year, jokersmol gave me the gorgeous coral colored one on the right, which she bought for me in Argentina. It really is sumptuous. Yet for various reasons, it hasn't become my everyday wallet. I tried to make the transition this morning and just couldn't do it. The old wallet fits everything better. My club cards and loyalty cards and such ruin the line of the dress wallet, bloating it. In the photo, the billfold is full of those things, the girly wallet mostly empty.

When you carry or keep an object for a long time because something about it pleases you more than any other, it becomes an extension of you. In the case of the wallet, it also hold a lot of important "me": license, credit cards, membership cards, and such. The only real downside of my wallet is that it is a billfold, and it doesn't look right with dress up clothes. That's the other wallet's job.

I need a handbag to match the personality of this wallet. This is what I am missing in a handbag, I now realize. I want it to have a streamlined size. It should weight no more than necessary, and it should be water resistant (for rain). I want it to hold everything I essentially need without bulging, such as a pen, a notebook, a comb, a change purse, my keys, my phone, a handkerchief, and lip balm. Small kits for first aide and sewing. It must have room for a fat mass market book or a moderately sized journal. I prefer bags that hold their shape when empty.

Yesterday's Crafternoon, combined with the manic energy I've had all week from the prescription uppers (prednisone is a stimulant, have I mentioned?), make me want to tackle the task of making my perfect purse today. But I'm off for another social afternoon, another lovely low key hanging out with good friends. Creation of the ultimate handbag will have to wait.