Stuff they carried
What you carry depends on what you do –
A backpack stacked with books.
A change of clothes for a big event later that night because there is no time to go the dorm and change.
A skateboard.
A box of sushi you plan to eat between classes.
A speech.
A hug for a friend.
A clarinet.
A tall white chocolate macchiato with whipped cream and a chocolate chip cookie.
An alarm reminding you to call mom.
A prepaid international call card for 5 minutes of air time now for 10 dollars only!
Money to give to the treasurer.
A planner.
Sometimes it depends on your mood –
On a good day – a lipstick.
A hairbrush if it’s the one of the days when you have a class with someone special.
A hat that hides your dirty hair that you haven’t washed in three days.
A set of headphones.
A third cup of coffee.
A sketchy looking pouch that could have anything from pads to weed in it.
Sometimes both, although that hasn’t happened to me personally before.
These you carry on bad days.
You carry what you gotta carry –
An umbrella.
Keys.
Phone.
Two phones in case you lose one.
A student ID with too little money left on it for this early in the semester.
A debit card that has too little money on it period.
A credit card, that… well, I won’t say anything of that as I don’t have one.
A smile and a “Goodhowabouchoo?”
A pepper spray.
A small to-do list in your mind.
Your faith, but, I won’t say anything on that either.
Sometimes you carry all of it and more.
Sanitizers. Two of them.
One for you and one for the person you want to shake hands with.
A child.
A silence on the other side of a text-conversation.
Your parents’ expectations or worse - your own.
Anxiety pills.
Nirvana in your head playing over and over.
But it usually gets better and you carry less.
On weekends, you carry your ID to saga and nothing else.
You look at the sky and it's clear and you leave your umbrella home, and even thought by the time you come out it's raining anyway, it's still all right.
You take off your flip-flops and carry them as you run in the rain, bursting the puddles, feeling the ground with the soles of your feet and the water between your toes.
You'll probably be sick from it tomorrow.