Ten Minutes

I left a small container of hummus residue in my daughter’s lunch bag. It must have been in there for at least four weeks. I popped the lid and it didn’t really have a smell and it just looked like leftover hummus inside. This makes me wonder if hummus is resistant to bacteria. I could test this. The next time I cut myself I’ll pack the open wound with Sabra.

My daughter’s lunch bag is primarily pink and covered in green leaves and multi-colored owls. Allie and Julie went through a very brief owl stage. I think the lunch box, some pajama bottoms and two wooden craft owls are all that remains of this period in our lives. I’m not sad or glad that it’s over. I suppose I should be thankful our home wasn’t overrun with reproductions and representations of owls but I could have lived with an owl proliferation if it had occurred.

I get comments from my coworkers when I bring the owl lunch bag to work. They try to rattle me with insinuations that the lunch bag isn’t age or gender appropriate. I don’t really think they believe this would bother me all that much particularly when my usual bag features a Batman symbol and a small, black cape that flaps in the wind if I walk fast enough. But that doesn’t stop the over-the-top gushing about how pretty my lunch bag is.

I love my Batman lunch bag, but its shape squishes my sandwiches. These days I usually pack a container of hummus with a generous squirt of sriracha, baby carrots to dig into the hummus, a sandwich, a piece of fruit and some chips or nuts. The pretty pink owl lunch bag is a better choice to haul this food to work.

I’ve thought about trying to find the perfect lunch bag, but because of the comments I get, I refuse to give up on the owls. I might even double down and try to find a pretty pink owl backpack. Truth is, I probably won’t because I’m currently toting my laptop in a backpack with NASA patches stitched to its exterior. If I left my gear unaccompanied, on a bench, you’d probably think it was the property of a twelve-year-old girl. That’s fine. It’s just the way my “everyday carry” has evolved.

I’m staring at my backpack and the lunch bag right now wondering why I just spent ten minutes thinking about them. 

I bet you are, too.