The Boo-Boo Bag - EDM #3

The Boo-Boo Bag, made for me special by my mother-in-law, it's love and a hug disguised as a simple tote bag.

She was on a quilt-making binge, but we already had six quilts and really didn't need another, nor did any of her other daughters-in-law. I suggested she make tote bags for everybody for Christmas instead. I was the only DIL who got a tote. Everybody else got store-bought sweaters. :)

A few months after she made it, she asked how it was working for me. Was it deep enough, roomy enough? The only thing I would have wished differently was to have the straps a smidgen longer so I could easily sling it over my shoulder.

"Oh!" she says, "Just leave it here with me and I'll extend the straps a bit. It won't be any problem at all."

"Nothing doing" I reply. "You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. I'm not giving up this bag for a minute."

She just beamed.

I've forgotten why we started calling it the Boo-Boo Bag, but that's its name. It stays packed with essentials for road trips. We wouldn't get out of the city limits before Hubby would ask, "Do you have a tooth pick in your purse?" or dental floss, or fingernail clippers, or Tums, or...you get the idea.

Well, no, I don't carry any of that in my purse. But I have it all now in the Boo-Boo Bag:

-4 pairs of glasses (his and mine),
-hairbrush and hair accessories,
-toothbrush, toothpaste, toothpicks, dental floss,
-2 bottles of Tums,
-manicure kit,
-hand lotion,
-Band-aids,
-Kleenex,
-alcohol swabs,
-Breathe Right strips,
-phone charger,
-butane lighter,
-toilet paper (for street festivals, there's never any in the port-o-potties),
-cassette tapes,
-notebook and ink pen,
-girl stuff, and
-an odd assortment of empty Ziploc bags.

We sit it by the front door as we get ready to go and add stuff: sodas, snacks, hats, change of clothes, and various stuff we need at the destination. It's usually bulging.

It's a little beat up, grimy, and worse for the wear now but that's OK with my mother-in-law. The grimier it gets, the happier she becomes because she knows it is well-loved and well-used. What higher praise can there be for a hand-made gift?

I think she secretly hopes it will be loved to tatters so she will have an excuse to make me another one.

I adore her so.