I wish I would have thought of the idea of making bags or totes to carry your books and other stuff so mainstream. I would be retired now instead of working at a desk job. I carry several everyday, my briefcase, my tote and my workout bag. Of course in my car is the pletheria of bags to carry my groceries to the car in, if I remember to take the bags in the grocery store in the first place.  My grocery store has even started putting up signs in the parking lot "Remeber Your Green Bags". 

Some type of pack or satchel has been around for a long time, think rucksack, knapsack, backpack. But when I was in school a backpack was used for hiking not carrying your books, lunch, laptop or a netbook or even your Nintendo DS. The only time rucksack was mentioned was if it was in conjunction with someone talking about being in the military. We have come a long way baby since then.

Back in the Stone Age when I was in Jr High (we called it Jr. High, not middle school) and then High School, we did not have any type of tote or messenger bag to carry our books in. We either had to run back and forth to our locker or if we were lucky we would have the use of a friend’s locker in one of the other halls to use. Trying to keep all of those combinations on the different lockers straight was difficult at times. There were times when several of us were sharing lockers and of course someone would inevitably grab the wrong book or notebook and of course, the previous night's homework would be in the book that was mistakenly grabbed. How I wish I would have had some type of tote or messenger bag to keep my homework spirals and/or homework in. That would have been slick. No more having to track down which one of my friends (usually one of the guys) who had grabbed my classroom book instead of his. One even put his name on my homework paper, obviously we had the same subject but at different times.

We now have available for use to buy specialty type packs.  There is a hydration pack, which is a cool idea if you think about it. It is used by the military and occasionally by athletes.  What makes it so cool is that a hydration pack normally has a tube that runs from a container within the pack to the person so that they can drink without removing the pack and digging in it to remove the bladder or bottle.  Makes it much easier to stay hydrated during long treks whether traveling on vacation or running a marathon.    Plus it is much more environmentally friendly.

Sometimes it is even a feature that is included in normal everyday or travel backpacks.  I don't advise filling the beverage bladder with cocktails though. If your plane is delayed you end up drinking more than you should because you don't have anything else to do.   That might cause you to do stupid things, like try to get on the wrong airplane or hustle some good looking guy because you think  ..............I digress.

There are even specialty backpacks that have skateboards straps on them so carrying the skateboard is even easier.  Speaking of skateboards, I remember my first one.  My grandmother bought it for me back sometime around the early to mid sixties.  It was wooden, long and way too cool.  I started out skateboarding up and down the hall in my parents' house.  After a very short bit it got pretty old with my mother and having to clean numerous handprints on the walls, I was railroaded outside to continue my practice.  I didn't know how to jump like some of the famous skateboarders do now.  I was thrilled if I could get over the raised crack in the sidewalk without the board stopping and me going flying.  I hated concrete rash, which usually involved me getting some Mercurochrome, remember the red stuff, and it stung.    The wheels, which were not like the high tech polyurethane wheels of today, were made of some type of clay.  But it was cool, I was the first kid on my block to have one.  Wish I still had it, might be worth some money.  Again, I digress.

Needless to say, I love all of my different tote bags.  I don't want to carry a backpack, I am too old for that, unless I am traveling on vacation.  Then backpacks are a lot easier to handle than a overstuffed tote bag or three as I mentioned earlier.  But for everyday use, tote bags, especially the leather messenger bags, work extremely well and look cool too!  I think I will buy my daughter one for Christmas, it is time she start carrying on the bag woman tradition.  Maybe Santa will bring me a new leather bag too!