Packing

Tension builds just looking at empty luggage bags.

Which size should I take? Can I get everything into one bag or will I need two? And do I want to pay for the second bag or can it be my carry on? How many outfits do I need to pack? Eight days, bus rides, beach, dinners?

All these decisions raise my blood pressure, ruin my meditative peacefulness, make me want to play solitaire on my computer, and immobilize my mind.

Why not close my eyes, take two pair of pants, one dress, three shirts, off hangers without matching anything to anything else, grab my toothbrush, and dart off without my computer, my phone, nor a book?

Just go without plans, without worrying, without a need to think about what I look like or what I will wear.

Oh, no, my stomach rolls, I get flush with hives, and I’m gasping for breath just thinking of that much freedom and lack of concern.

I remember my husband suggesting we ‘let things happen rather than make things happen,’ when we set off for a year’s trip to Australia and New Zealand. I assured him I could do that, as I lugged six suitcases of ‘stuff’ because those countries may not have stores filled with things I needed.

A lesson I learned, admittedly not well, was I could have packed one bag and been perfectly fine.

No one cared what I wore. Not one person said, “Gosh you look awful today.” And if they thought it, they were polite enough to keep their mouths shut. I never saw any of the people we met after returning home, so why worry?

Is this a female flaw, a message implanted along with our DNA? Do people expect women to look ‘put together’ while men wear shorts with mismatched socks that come halfway up their calves, and a gaudy shirt?

Talking to a group of women who travel often, their advice was varied as to how much to pack. One used the theory that you should pack, take out half of what you packed, and before you close the suitcase, take out another half. Another traveler insists on taking several bags, and one just for her makeup and medications, while her friend treks across the world with a backpack only.

So as I look at my collection of bags, I think I’ll grab the smallest one, put in two pairs of shorts, three t-shirts, my antidepressants, and my sun hat and be off.

Wow, that was easy. Hopefully I can buy underwear somewhere.