Before thyroid treatment (BTT), I stored a bag that USED to be my camping-toiletries bag: a complete shower set with all the bells and whistles I then needed to carry to the showerhouse (or on any overnight motel stop). It was colored differently than all my other bags (I love to containerize by function), so DH could always spot it if I needed it quickly. Like if nature called (IBS) and I answered it quicker than I dug the bag outta the van. (I recall one memorable emergency stop at an isolated construction outhouse.... nononono)

Well, back then I tossed it into my closet ready for "the next trip," where I have seen it daily for years. When life eventually got better, I started downsizing (and then downsizing further) the amount of gear I needed to carry to make travel work-- basically these were adaptive items most folks do not need.

Eventually I got to where I could take what I really needed for overnighters in my large purse (which is actually a soft camera bag Hardi gave me). So the Toiletries Bag sat and sat.

The last tine I had repacked it, a flannel travel towel had not quite fit inside the zipper. So the bag was closed, pretty flannel bulging out, with a carabiner clip.


Well. Today I was casting about for flannel to make a cover for a pillow that will perfectly fix a chair. The pretty flannel eventually swam up out of my subconscious, and of course it was right there in my uncluttered closet waiting for me. If the flannel had not been held down tight under that clip, I'd probably have hauled it out and left the bag.

BUT. Since I had to bring the bag to a work area to open it... I found:

. A favorite lightweight (quick-drying), pretty plaid shirt I'd missed
. TWO pairs of the BEST undies I've ever found-- the first pretty ones I'd ever bought-- from a set of three, the 3rd being in my daily closet and worn way too often
. An almost brand-new BRA (I had to toss several from the nursing home era that they had bleached to death)
. Bagged toiletries I need for next week's trip to Ohio, to exchange for the tiny toiletries bag I mistakenly thought I could leave there
. A large supply of a prescribed drug (not expired) people and dogs can take for pain relief
. Two pill sorters I had planned to buy which, now, I don't, which I'd have bought TODAY.
. The carabiner is a heavy kind that does not break, and I needed one to replace the one I took off my purse 2 weeks ago at the dog shelter to secure a wonky crate gate


What I can't figure out is what the heck I put into one of the airline-sized bottles. One bottle is labeled WITCH (of course that's witch hazel), but what did I label DOG? Of course I'll open it and smell that to remind myself what I was thinking.

~S~