Just the Backpack

“What? No suitcases?” I ask my friends.

“Just bring your backpack, that’s all we need for this trip.”

“Easy as pie then!”

Heavy packing ends up with heavy lifting. Happily, I’ll be doing neither.

Goodness, this frees me up to chase other work. One backpack is all I need. Zip, zap, zoom! That’s the way I’ll race through it.

I’m going to encapsulate my life into one backpack. “Less luggage, more comfort,” “Less is more,” “Simple living, high thinking,” “Dump all baggage.” At this rate, my mind has more clutter than the backpack.

So, I breathe deep and meditate.

Then, I read a nice book. I suddenly become interested in tackling all the work I really don’t have to get to, because packing is just the backpack. I have saved some time to laze around. I think I can do all the things I need to finish before I get to this.

Ready to pack now. Child’s play with the one backpack approach!

I suddenly remember that I’ve not finished the laundry. So, I drop my clothes in. “I can’t do without this coat, and I need that pant,” I tell myself pressing the pause button on the washer to drop additional items.

I make myself a cup of tea and enjoy a sweet cookie while the washer does its job. In the meantime, I make a few calls to unfortunate friends and share information about the wonderful trip ahead. My favorite friend and I get chatty, and I forget all about my clothes in the laundry. She wants to know all about the trip, and I pry a confession out of her. She’s a tad jealous I’m going while she’s not. In spite of knowing this, my enthusiasm cannot be curbed.

Before long, it’s night, and I’m beginning to feel sleepy. Then, I remember that wet load needs to be transferred to the dryer. “I’ll wake up early in the morning to throw the stuff into the dryer.” Too much talking makes a gal tired. Am I glad not to be packing suitcases!

Early in the morning, the alarm rings, and I press the snooze button. I have a long journey, and I need my rest. I got time. After all, it’s just a backpack. The alarm and I get off to an ON and OFF battle.

After several tussles, I win, for the alarm stops ringing. Uh-oh! The spoils of the war sometimes are not all that necessary. I might have slept a bit longer than necessary.

With a sudden rush, I remember the clothes need to be dried. I run back to the washer, and without looking, I put my hand in. Stubbornly the clothes sit, all bunched up in water. That’s when I see the load button light flashing red showing an imbalanced situation. After redistributing the load several times, I redo the load, but the same situation arises. I do only the spin cycle, but when I come back, the clothes feel like one big hippopotamus stuck in water . And so, I squeeze everything by hand, it drips all over, but it will have to do. I put it all in the dryer. The load takes an inordinate time to dry, but finally, I have clean, slightly damp clothes.

Of course, the backpack does not fit all.

Now, I must sift and cull through what I need.

I try to downsize and minimize, but it looks like I cannot part with anything.

As I wrest with this challenge, I find myself stressing. Then I start to roll.

No,no...not that kind of roll, silly!

It’s the Kon-mari method. I just remembered a video I watched when I was bored. “Smoothen first! Then, make rectangles, and finally, roll.”

Essentials first, and then the others. Tight rolls, clothing nesting within one another, secure tucking, and jettisoning things that anchor me down, I pack my clothes. My combed cotton pajama suit sparks so much joy, Wisps of undergarments take less room, but I need my practical grandma undies. I throw out all my briefest thongs and whispers of lace, but why don’t I gain much room?

Speaking of footwear, I pack sturdy walking shoes, but a girl’s gotta have legit shoes. So, I pack three more, and take two out.

Too many things spark my joy, and I find it hard to let go.

Talking about sparks, what about chargers and stuff, what about my laptop and my very smart devices?

What about my food?

What about my wine?

Add, dump, add, dump, dump, dump, dump.

My comfort pillow? Dump!

My make up? Reduce

My toiletries? Bare minimum.

Who thought minimalism would mean maximum work?

Whew, the add and toss has gotten all my knickers in a bunched-up knot and a bee in my bonnet.

Voilà! I manage to complete the task. What??? It only took...I look at the clock ashamed to do the math of time subtraction.

“It was just a backpack,” I thought. But I think it made me miss the boat, and it allowed the train to depart. The plane has soared off, and the ship for me has definitely sailed. Friends have left for a spectacular break...without me.

Now, I am all packed up, but I have nowhere to go.