My duffel bag has gotten me through a lot: 5 summers at Horse Camp, 3 trips to Camp Squeah with school, the sailing trip in 2004 (can you spot my bag in the photo of all our gear on the dock?), and a road trip to San Fransisco. A couple weeks ago, I decided that because I was going to be doing planes and trains now, with my move to England, my duffel bag needed wheels. Why buy a new bag when you can just attach wheels yourself? Brilliant idea!

I went to Home Depot and bought wheels and screws with acorn nuts (to cover the pointy end of the screw) and I was planning to attach wheels to my old duffel bag. The man at Home Depot spent at least 20 minutes in the nuts/bolts/screws isle trying to explain the different sizes to me. *Whoosh over my head* I just wanted something that would stay put and not rip into my clothes. Brilliant idea my ass… I realized that the bottom would just sag in the middle between the pulling handle and the new wheels. I pondered with the idea of reinforcing the bottom of the bag with plywood or aluminum tubes, but realized that it would be best to just buy a new bag.

Not to mention I never fixed the holes in the bottom where the proposed wheels were going to go because instead of carrying it properly, I usually just drag it across the ground. The only time I can remember carrying it is when it had the propane tanks for our bunsen burner during the Catamaran Trip in Grade 10. And even then I put it on my back like a backpack with the tanks banging against the back of my head, and when I flipped it around, they were banging against the backs of my knees. No winning for me.

Anyway, I ended up buying a Hockey Bag at Canadian Tire for $50 and it is enormous! It looks like it’s not that wide, and not too long, but it is super deep which is great! I can stack all my tshirts in one pile, then all my pants in one, and all my sweaters, etc. etc. I love to be organized. But now after writing this, and so much we’ve been through… I’m a little sad to see my StormTec bag go. We’ve been through a lot, and it’s always been big enough to hold everything I need.

I always seem to bog myself down with the trivial things, but seeing as how I’m stressing out about all my “unknowns” with moving, I think that I would like to focus on the trivial things… such as sewing patches onto my new duffel bag. Since about 2002 I’ve been collecting patches from all the places I’ve been. I’m still missing a few states I went to when I was younger, but maybe I’ll be able to mail order them or something! [MIA: Florida, Arizona, Hawaii]

P.S. Now that you’ve seen the distinguishing marks (patches) go back to the photo and try and find my bag among the rubble!