Bag

Everywhere I go, I carry a blue back pack. It's been hanging off of me faithfully for almost 3 years now. It's no ordinary backpack. It's specific to me. The outside top pocket (where my wallet and cell phone will always go) (wallet on top, cell phone on bottom, mind you. OCD) is adorned with three pennant-like pins. The left one, is a fish. I've had it since before High school, and it's there to remind me of where all I've been, and everyone I've loved before now. Friend's I've sat next to all night long on a river bank in the middle of nowhere. Memories of a country kid growing up in the woods.

The second pin is an East Central pin, that I received my freshman year here, with the band. It's a sign of where I'm at. And a reminder to never forget all of the hard work I put in to get here. The third pin is a Serpent and Staff medical pin. I really don't know how I found it (or it found me) it honestly just fell out of my printer one day. ya....my printer? It reminds me that I still have work to do, and that I am not yet finished, or closed to finishing this journey. But rather, the real journey has just begun, and things can only go up from here. It reminds me to persevere.

If you looked (which you couldn't) in the inside front pocket, you'd find my ingredients.The very basics of which I need to survive. With me at all times are my TI-84 graphing calculator, TI-36 scientific calculator, stapler, staple remover, scantrons, an unopened package of pencils, two flash drive, a pocket first aid kit, and a stick of deodorant. (Nerd much?) Nerd lots. But if I don't have it in that pocket, I can probably live without it.

Then comes the largest pocket. The heavy hauler. The book tote. The burden holster. Where the literature goes. My Mac rests here. Along with (usually) a chemistry book, two copies of the latest JBJS (journal of bone and joint surgery), and whatever I'm studying that day. It's a heavy bag....to say the least. But as long as I've carried it with me, it's never let me down. Sure....I've customized it's rips and tears with several black and blue zip-ties over the years, but cosmetics have never been that important to either of us. Yes, we're a good pair, my bag and I. And although she has had it rough so far in life, with the late nights, early mornings, and sleepless weekends in surgery, she's never let me down. I suppose it's really the best love affair of life so far. The student...and his Book Bag.