Five Things in My Backpack

I have never been good at carrying a purse. I can do a wallet, a tiny wallet that hooks on my keychain and carries essentials: credit card (singular), ATM card, driver's license and a few bills cash.

I am a backpack girl.

And, in my backpack, I always have these five things:

1. Laptop: Don't leave home without it. I just got a shiny new Macbook Pro and it is slim and sleek and I love it. I am typing on it right now and loving every word it produces. While I have an iPad and it travels well, the laptop has the really important stuff: presentations, story ideas, blog ideas, and, sometimes, I just need a real keyboard to compose my thoughts,.

2. Pens: Lots of pens, because I leave them places and then need to replace them in my backpack. And, I always have purple on hand for grading papers, because I feel it is friendlier than red.

3. Extra Sunglasses: I keep a pair in the car, but always have a spare in my backpack. My eyes are incredibly light sensitive and my sunglasses have my distance prescription. I need them more in the winter, when the sun reflects off the bright snow, than I do in the summer. If I do not have them on a sunny day, I can almost guarantee I'll have a headache by 4 p.m.

4. Thumb Drive: Just in case I need to get information on the fly.

5. Headphones: Never know when the opportunity to tune the world out will come up and I can grab some "me" time and jam to Spearhead, Elton John, the Indigo Girls, or the Beatles. I don't want to pass up tha chance to keep building the soundtrack to my life.