Tag: suitcase

Full Speed Ahead!

~ Linda Wright ~ 2 Comments

The older I get, the longer it takes me to get ready for vacation. No matter how far in advance I start making lists of things to put in the suitcase, I forget something. My great uncle Eustace said he could stick a toothbrush in his shirt pocket and be packed, ready to travel. He claimed that he did this routinely when he flew to visit his daughter, Connie. I was envious and somewhat dubious that he was telling me the truth.

This year I put together a grab-it-and-go bag for our family, including our cat and our dog. It is for emergency preparedness, hurricanes, floods, and other disasters that could force us to leave our home quickly. This bag contains just the essentials: a change of clothes, underwear, toothbrush, comb, pet food and a week’s supply of medications. What is challenging is determining the basics. Can we survive without a cell phone charger? What toiletry supplies are most critical? Do we really need duct tape?

It took me two weeks to get that bag packed and I am still thinking of things I have forgotten to include. The decision making process slowed me down. Planning for disaster feels like making out an advance health care directive or buying car insurance. I don’t like thinking about the worst case. I have discovered over the years that what I think might go wrong, often does not happen.

I carry some metaphorical baggage in my head. When I was a young adult I kept a weekender bag packed in case I was hospitalized. Pregnant women were the only other people I knew who did this, but their suitcases were emptied after the baby was born. I went to the hospital each time I required a transfusion. My hospitalizations were unpredictable and sporadic. The overnight bag included things like deodorant, toothbrush and a pair of special pajamas, which I designed and made myself so that I would not have to wear a johnny gown. When I was released from the hospital, I packed the luggage again for the next time.

Because of my bleeding disorder, I have done a lot of thinking ahead. I keep my vision focused a few steps in front of where I walk; my thoughts are directed towards problem solving. The Girl Scout motto, “Be Prepared,” echoes within me. Even so, something completely unexpected is likely to make my plans meaningless. No amount of preparedness will give me control over my future. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said it well, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

In my heart though, I am a person who wants to live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. I would like to be as free as Uncle Eustace, able to get away with nothing but a toothbrush stuck in my pocket.

Grab It and Go

~ Linda Wright

As I pull out the suitcase, I see the satchel of items that I take whenever I travel. They are things I wouldn’t want to forget to pack. There is a toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clipper, comb, deodorant, a small tube of hand cream, the charger for my cell phone, my earbuds for listening and a pair of clean underwear. There is also a bag with a week’s supply of my prescription medications. If I’m flying, I will carry on this bag, so I will have the basics if my stored luggage doesn’t arrive at my destination

I’ve kept a bag prepared and ready to go at a moment’s notice since I was a child, although the contents have changed over the years. I had no need for prescriptions medications then, and cell phones hadn’t been invented yet. When I was young, it included pajama bottoms, but not the tops. The bag was what I needed for a stay in the hospital. I would be given one of those buttonless gowns to wear, the ones that tie in the back but flop wide open when you walk. Wearing the pajama bottoms satisfied my modesty.

For years, the only way I could get an infusion of clotting factor was as a hospital in-patient. These days it is rare for me to have to stay overnight in a hospital. Infusions can be done on an outpatient basis. Younger people who have bleeding disorders are often able to do their own infusions at home.

Pausing for a moment before I fill the suitcase with clothes and footwear, I feel thankful that now my “grab it and go” sack gets to be used for vacations more often than hospitalizations.