The Purse

Whose purse was it I wonder? What could have been inside? I must have had a strange fascination with purses when I was a small child. I loved looking through my mom's "pocketbook". It smelled of lipstick and Lifesavers. She kept plenty of pens and pencils in there. We used them when we drew on the bulletins during the sermon at church. She didn't carry keys that I recall, because she didn't drive a car. There were Kleenex in there... just in case one of us needed one. They were usually clean... I'm sure she had a wallet and sometimes the checkbook, if it wasn't in the drawer at home. Hmmm, what else?

I never carried a purse myself until I was in high school. I felt silly with a purse, like I was trying to be someone I wasn't. Eventually it became a good idea to have one. I had "girl things" I needed to carry, although what all that was I don't recall. (Some of it I do.)

Now I rarely leave the house without my purse. It's my little French silk handbag that Ginger made. I won it in a drawing at Christmas and I love it. I always have my wallet (well, almost always). It holds my important stuff. You know, credit card, store cards, my license, medical cards... postage stamps. I have my lip balm and car keys, a miniature calculator and several old receipts, a checkbook that I never use, sometimes some cash, but most importantly... a good supply of gum!