Trash or Treasure

     While sitting in the waiting room at the eye doctor's office, I decided to be productive and clean out my purse. In one pile I put the important stuff:  wallet, keys, cell phone, etc.  In another pile I put the items that had been cluttering up my bag: gum wrappers, a pile of rocks, a fake mustache, a toy figurine minus an arm, the missing arm, a lollipop, etc.  I noticed an elderly woman watching me and considering her neat appearance I assumed she was appalled at the junk I had accumulated.  As I was debating what to do with a crumpled paper heart, her name was called by the nurse and she stood.  As she walked past me she leaned over and said "I miss when my pocketbook used to look like that." I gave her comment little thought, and shoved the majority of the contents back into my purse as the nurse came to escort me to the exam room.
     A couple of weeks later after an exhausting trip to the grocery store complete with a check out line tantrum from the toddler, I was grateful for all of the "junk" in my purse.  Headed to the car, the little one was happily slurping on the emergency lollipop while giggling at his brother wearing the fake mustache.  As I reached into my bag to get the keys, my daughter spotted the torn paper heart that I had put in a Ziploc baggy to preserve.  She smiled, remembering that she gave it to me more than a year prior to cheer me up if I ever felt sad.  As I loaded the kids into the van, the elderly woman's comment went through my head.  It was then that I realized that someday I too am going to miss when my pocketbook looked like this.