When a Backpack Isn’t Just a Backpack

When a Herschel Supply Co. Backpack is magic.

I have been wanting a new laptop backpack for quite some time — I typically go for a backpack rather than a shoulder bag or cross-body. I typically buy a 15 – 17″ laptop and even the lightest ones are heavy on just one shoulder. My old, reliable, plain black laptop Targus Backpack has held up well over the years but a while ago I got fixated on something snazzier.

You know how it is. Sometimes you just see a product you like and obsess.

So I obsessed over the Herschel Supply Co. Mid-Volume Rubber Backpack you see over yonder. It comes in a b’zillion colors and patterns but of course, I gravitated toward something gray and black. And when I felt like I could splurge on it, I ordered it from Amazon. It arrived shortly thereafter and I brought the box into my bedroom, tore it open and was excited I loved it as much in person as I did the photo. (I’d seen the bag in person in several of the other shades, but not the one I picked out on the web.)

I had no immediate need to use it, though, so I put it down, back in the box, with its protective plastic and tissue paper. And there it sat for a week or so.

It was then that, unfortunately, I got laid off from my job.

Once I was past the initial devastation that comes with such a thing, the box containing the backpack tortured me further. I felt horrible guilt for spending on it and more so because I still loved it and could not bring myself to return it. Yet it stayed in the box and long went unused.

It’s amazing how complicated a relationship with a simple backpack can be. Amazing what it ultimately represented.

Complicated indeed. At last, this morning, before I began my fourth week at my new(ish) job, I went for the backpack feeling much like a child on the first day of school with shiny new pencils and such. School supplies, whether or not we realized it, always represented fresh beginnings, a clean slate and maybe even triumph. Again I say, it’s amazing what this backpack ultimately represented.

I put all my things into it and, at last, walked out of the house with it over my shoulders, smiling and feeling very happy. 

Obligatory disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links. If you click on them and happen to make a purchase, I’ll make about 25 cents. A true embarrassment of riches. 

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