Since I was a little girl, I watched my mom sling an oversized, full purse over her shoulder every day and counted down every minute until I could have my own. The nostalgia of getting a piece of gum floating around the bottom of your Mom’s dusty bag, I weirdly think of fondly. I used to gather items from my room and put them in a bag pretending it was things I needed at all times. My dreams were crushed when carrying things around daily became necessary.

First it started with a wristlet – the kind you have to walk around the mall with your friends in middle school with the allowance your parents gave you and gift cards from distant family members. Then came the purse. Loaded with my wallet, phone, beauty products, stars wrappers I’d forget to throw away, and a pen in the off chance I needed one. It just got heavier and heavier. Then, I tried to downsize and even that is annoying. Just falling off my shoulder just asking to get lost! I almost miss the days when I had no responsibility and merely needed my flip phone to call for a ride home. Unfortunately, embracing the purse is almost symbolic of embracing adulthood. It’s fun at first but aggravating the longer you deal with it.