I Bought a Purse and I Love It

Ok, technically it’s not a purse. Technically it’s a fanny pack. Which name is worse?

The night before our son’s due date, I was lying in bed, apparently doing the male version of nesting: last second panic that led to me overnighting Amazon items I thought would make our lives just a little easier with two-under-two and a 10-year-old. The shopping cart ended up consisting of:

• Two fanny packs: one for myself and one for my wife. I got myself an REI Trail 2 Waist Pack (black) and my wife a BAGGU Fanny Pack (also black). I thought the size variation would be nice, and hers was a little more “cute” and less “I pretend I go on annual backpacking trips” (I wish I would).
• Two small cooler packs: a PackIt Freezable Snack Box and a MIER Freezable Snack Bag. The MIER pack has removable ice-pack inserts and is big enough to fit a 32 oz. Mason jar (my wife can ✨produce✨), which is incredibly handy for storing pumped milk on the go.

But whatever. This isn’t a product review.

I’ve worn the fanny pack for about 5 days now, and I kinda… might not stop. It’s just too convenient. I am partially a Boy Scout in spirit – although I didn’t make it far past Cub Scouts – so I have long had a tendency to load my pockets with extra “I might need X” items. Moreover, I always carry my wallet, my phone, my chapstick (Dr. Dan’s Cortibalm, which I acknowledge I now have a dependency on), and my car keys. On top of that, I often carry a relatively large Benchmade folding knife. With my super hip “waist pack”, I can stow all of those items in it! I don’t actually – I keep my phone, chapstick, and wallet in my pockets. Doing so leaves plenty of room in the pack for other “I might need X” items like a small flashlight (Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA), glasses lens wipes, an iPhone charging cable, Tylenol Cold and Flu, etc.

I’ve begun to sling it over my shoulder or, hell, even sometimes quite literally carry it like a purse. And you know what people probably think? Either “Get a load of this goob”, or “Only a dude that cares about way different things walks around like that”, and I am perfectly happy with either. Oh, and your packed-to-the-brim pockets look bunchy and awkward, nerd.

This post is stupid. I don’t care, frankly. I have been writing about heavy stuff, and I wanted to slap something on the blog tonight. Hope you enjoyed.