My husband and I both carry a briefcase to our work each day. Recently my husband had to buy a new briefcase because he had worn out the hinges that lifted the top on his old one. Every night he bring his briefcase home filled with important papers and books. He props it open in the bedroom, reads and works during the evening and packs it up to return to work the next day. Every morning he opens it on his desk at work and takes out the old papers to make room for a new batch of work to be carried home at the end of the day.
I have the same briefcase I started with 12 years ago. I carry it home every night and prop it against the refrigerator. Sometimes in the morning I will stick things in the side pocket to carry back to work like letters to be mailed or the grocery list. When I arrive at work and carry my briefcase across the parking lot I smile and think how my co-workers must be impressed with all the work I lug home each night.
Yesterday I had a meeting at the hospital after work, so at the end of the day I stuffed the hospital ethics committee file into my bulging briefcase and headed off to the meeting. As I pulled my briefcase off the front seat of my pick-up truck in the hospital parking lot I imagined that I looked more important than usual with my briefcase. By the time I made it to the committee meeting room I realized that someone listing severely to the right due to the weight of an overloaded briefcase could not possibly look dignified to anyone. I decided it was definitely time for thinning of my briefcase regulars. Here is what I found inside.
First was the ethics committee pendaflex file which was the tip of the iceberg. It was heavy enough to bring the problem to the surface, but despite the wordy memos it was not a major contributor to the overload. I had two pads of yellow paper with blue lines. I write stories on these and they were both half used up. I never know when I will need to write a story, so I keep these handy in my briefcase at all times. Usually a story cannot wait.
I had a garden catalogue and a clothing catalogue from the past season both with dog- eared pages marking items I planned to order, but never did. I had a road atlas of the United States that I intended to take home to the children, but I forgot about it. I had three copies of the children’s school calendar. I had an article about saving tomato seeds and a Thank You note from a friend. I had a set of cartoons I had drawn and copied for my two sisters. I had never mailed them because the copies were poor quality, but I had kept the copies in my briefcase anyway. I had a Christmas card I had drawn for my parents for Christmas, but never sent and I had 10 sheets of leftover white copy paper that I carried around in my briefcase while I was working on drawing the card and cartoons.
I had a full pad of plain white paper that I kept as a reserve for writing in case I ran out of yellow lined paper. I like the yellow-lined paper better. I had several small pads for making notes and lists. I had a manilla file folder with some decorating ideas for our house. I had one empty used envelope that needed to be thrown away. I had printed copies of about 10 of my stories just in case I lost my notes, my notebook full of printed stories or my computer write files. I had a plastic quart-sized freezer bag filled with note cards and matching envelopes in case I took a notion to write a Thank You note my self. I had Emma’s paperback copy of The Black Stallion that I was rereading.
I had a green index card with a list of items my son and husband might like for their birthdays. I have to jot these things down at the moment they occur to me or I’ll forget. I had a pamphlet of paint chips from Sherwin Williams, interior latex Victorian colors. I think it had slipped out of my manila decorating folder. There were four ink pens and a film cannister full of poppy seeds for planting this fall. At the very bottom were three rubber bands and the shoulder strap for my briefcase which I had never used.
Now that I put away the ethics file and took out the road atlas my briefcase is a lot lighter.