Over the weekend I worked the USAC .25 race in Hagerstown,
MD. When we arrived to the hotel Thursday night I had an issue with my
suitcase. It started out as an inconvenience with the zipper not wanting to
open. However, the problem persisted and I tried and tried to open it but it
just wouldn’t budge.
I eventually asked the USAC .25 director, whom I was rooming
with to help, and he tried and still nothing. This wasn’t looking good and when
we took a closer look the zipper track and broken and the zipper itself had
come apart from the suitcase itself. The damage, unfortunately, was terminal.
There wasn’t much that could be done to open the suitcase
without destroying it and this is where my emotions started to set it. This
suitcase wasn’t just a suitcase it was my suitcase… okay, so it was my dad’s
and I borrowed it several years ago and never gave it back but that just added
to the legacy of it. In a way it was like traveling with my dad all those years
ago when we did so. Also, I’d been all across the country, and to Canada, with
that suitcase. The associative memory system with this suitcase was strong.
To get into the suitcase we took a knife and cut into it. As
the director put the knife into the suitcase it was as if I were watching a
friend die. I know that sounds extreme, but for myself having an attachment to
objects this wasn’t just a loss of a thing to pack clothes in, this was an
event of losing my travel companion whom I’ve traveled to races and
presentations and essentially grown into the person I am today. Last year I
traveled with that bag 200 days of the year so the memories were strong.
Slowly the knife made its way around the suitcase and I was
finally able to get to my clothes, but in the process the usability of the suitcase
had become lost. Its journey was now over. A day later I went suitcase shopping
for the first time in my life and I did buy the first thing that looked
suitable which was a mistake because I should have bought the same brand and
model of the one that was lost, but this didn’t happen.
Sunday morning, when we left the hotel room and the bag
behind, I took a final photograph of it. If you don’t have this attachment to
objects like I do you probably are reading this and maybe shaking your head
with no understanding of what this suitcase meant to me. I had to take that
photograph and it will be one I cherish for a long time because over the past
four years that bag was with me from the start of my journey to where and who I
am today. Sure, I’ll create new memories with this contraption which is called
a suitcase that I bought, but it’ll take a long time to move on from the
suitcase that was lost. Most people can discard inanimate objects without a
second thought, but things mean more to me and when things are lost it isn’t
just a minor event, it can be an event which brings a tear, or many tears, to
my eyes.
I've found that when it comes time to replace an object, especially one that's going to get a lot of use, impulse buying isn't usually the way to go. And, having owned a LOT of suitcases, I can tell you that they are definitely not all created equally. It pays to get one that will be able to handle the stress that frequent travel puts on it and you, sir, do a lot of travelling! If you're like me you also got very comfortable in how you packed that old suitcase, shoes here, shirts there and pants over here. Unless this bag has the exact same dimensions you'll have to find a new way to pack and that's a huge inconvenience for the frequent traveler. Well, anyway, sorry you had to lose an old friend in such an abrupt manor but I'm sure after a while you and your new suitcase will come to a mutual understanding. Hope your future travels are safe.
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