Lesson from a Purse
July 22nd, 2009. Published under boredom busters. 12 Comments.
Lesson #1 Santa Claus is a myth invented by adults for holiday entertainment
Ever wonder why women always carry purses and men don’t? My youngest sister, Haydee, lugs around a shoulder bag that’s bursting at the seams. I never see her without it. Not once, but many times, have I frowned and asked her, “What’s inside that thing? Are you going camping?” Women are forever curious about the stuff in the next woman’s bag.
When I was a little girl my mother had this black and white shoulder bag, a promotional giveaway from Allied bank. It was durable, ugly, and very heavy. We called it her basurahan (trash can). Something came over me one day. I started taking things out of it. Maybe I was curious. Maybe my mild OCD trait was prompting me to organize it. Among the many papers it held, I saw several opened letters addressed to Santa Claus in the North Pole. I recognized my handwriting in one of them. Confused, I waived them up and asked my mother, who was busy with something across the room, “Why are these letters still here? Didn’t you mail them?” She snatched them away and snapped at me to keep my hands off her things. Her anger puzzled me all the more. That was when I began to seriously doubt the existence of jolly old St. Nicholas.
Of course I had my misgivings about Santa before, but not in a major way like this one. Back in 1979, my first grade classmate, Vicente, announced that Santa Claus gave him Lemon Corn for christmas. Lemon Corn!!!??? I couldn’t understand why he would give such an unspecial gift on a very special day? How could he be so cheap with Vicente and so nice to me? He gave me toys and Snow White stickers while he gave my classmate an everyday snack that you can buy for 25 cents at the 3 Brothers, a store close to our school. But I came up with an explaination for that. This boy liked to tease other kids. Perhaps he had been classified as “naughty” and therefore didn’t deserve to get a toy.
Santa isn’t real. This is one significant life lesson that came my way via my mother’s purse. It ranks way up there with other earth-shaking personal realizations like “My father is an adulterer.” Rifling through a woman’s purse can reveal much about the owner and also about life. That’s why women’s magazines love to ask celebrities about their expensive handbags and what’s inside them. And I admit — I enjoy reading that kind of crap.
Sometimes when I tidy up my bag, I like to spread out the things that I’ve taken out of it and pretend I’m a celebrity being interviewed by Cosmopolitan. The other night I went a step further and photographed them. Tonight, I went a little bit crazy. I thought that if Cosmo doesn’t care to put me on their pages, I can still let the world know about the contents of my handbag. Curious? Look and see. Who knows….you just may get an epiphany the way I did.
Stuff that will come tumbling out if I turn my bag upside down:
- ratty old flowery wallet
- eye glasses that have been twisted out of shape by Athena when she was just a year old
- purple duck barette
- cosmetic case with four shades of lipstick
- red plastic coin for a singing toy piggy bank
- 4 pens
- cepacol lozenges
- ricola cough drops
- my super duper ouchless Goody hairbrush
- small notebook for random lists
- medicine cup
- M&M’s plain, to calm Athena’s tantrums
- crumpled receipts
- wads of table napkins from fastfood places
- imitation pepto bismol, just in case I feel a diarrhea coming
- maximun strength cortizone 10, anti-itch
- check book
- Sony Cybershot
- puzzle pieces
- paper clip that doubles as a hairclip
- Rupert’s blue star eraser
- opened but unused sanitary pad, violated by curious little hands
12 Comments
Pinngoi on August 25th, 2009
Exagg ka man! My bag is not bursting at it seems. Those were my Miami days when I have to go back and forth from Miagao and dumangas during weekends.
chiqui on August 26th, 2009
Ping,hindi “bursting at the seams”? maybe it did not actually burst but it looked like it was going to explode any minute.hehe
Cecilia, tsakto ka gid.
donditiples on August 26th, 2009
it was one of those earth-shaking personal realizations that got me…hidden there like a time-bomb in the middle of perfectly composed prose. i’m trying to remember which celebrated author writes like this, but my memory is in shambles, so….
…anyway, no matter how i organize my bag (i have separate pouches for cosmetics, credit cards/money/id’s, medicine items, pc/laptop/electronic items, coins, etc…), i still find myself rooting through it searching for what I need. *sigh* why is it that we bring everything but the kitchen sink and still feel unequipped, while men can get by with what’s in their pockets?
Lorena Jotis Gallaza on August 31st, 2009
hahaha…. same like my bag. But my bag kinda like a pharmacy i put a lot of things in case of emergency,like medicine,nose drops,pads,band aid, ect. that’s why i always used a bag that has 3 pocket so i can sort it all my stuff inside.
chiqui on September 1st, 2009
Don and Lorena: daw kasadya man gid mag pamutang sang stuff sa sulod sang bag, ano? galing kung kis-a kasabad bala, esp. when you need to change you purse. don’t you sometimes wish that you can just go without having to drag all that weight –just like a man.
tionks on September 11th, 2009
wala man kami nahuya nga nagabukol ang amon bulsa. we carry everything we “need” in our pockets. Importante and word nga need.
mas organized lang kami kag ginaplano ang activities for the day kag kon ano lang ang kinanlan amo lang na ang ginadala namon. small change para pangbakal band aid, small bills para sa iban nga balaklon. kon kinanlan namon magtakenote, putos lang sang sigarilyo ok na.
isa man ka rason ang amon lip-ot nga buhok. fingers lang pwede na husay. kon kinanlan mag”touch-up” gamay nga laway ok na.
kami wala mahadlok magstain amon brief. indi namon kinanlan tissue after we jingle, jangle lang ok na. kag wala kami bisita kada bulan.
besides ngaa magbitbit pa kami kon may bag man ang upon namon. hahahahahaha
gusto niyo ibilin ang bag pero wala niyo man gina-obra. basi gusto niyo lang i-display ang bags niyo specially kon branded?
nice to visit your site, chiqui. next time naman.
chiq on September 12th, 2009
ka funny sa imo tionks. are you still in the middle east? i hope the bad economy has left you unharmed.
mavi on September 19th, 2009
ha ha ha tionks! indi man ko satisfied nga indi ko bitbit tanan sa bag ko. i had just took out my checkbook and our passports from my bag. daw magsakay sa jeep kinanglan passport? as well as my starbucks planner nga way man ginasulatan ginasaylo ko na sa lain nga bag, resibo nga indi maorganize, panit sang mga dulsi kay “hold it til u get to the can” gani, several id’s, etc etc… i keep these things in my bag so when it’s “bring me” during kiddie pasrties, daug gid ya mga bata ko!!! and not necessarily to show it off but to keep in my wallet, yosi and lighter in. nadugangan na lang cellphone subong. kag syempre para pagirl effect. that bag and my flower print blouses, chiqs to create a respectable married woman look.
chiqui on September 20th, 2009
hahaha.that “respectable married woman look”. mavi, the wild child, trying her best to blend in with mainstream society.
vanessa on January 26th, 2010
hala! dumduman mo pa ya ang ginhatag ni santa kay vicente?
Chiqui on January 26th, 2010
naluoy ko bal-an sa iya kay kalaw-ay sang gift nia nga nabaton.
cecilia mq on July 23rd, 2009
Those abutingting list look so familiar. I usually carry another bag for make up and stuff that I don’t need. I think that’s one reason we have back and shoulder problem, carrying all those weight hehehe