The Me Bag

For school, Little Clover had to bring a "Me Bag." The Me Bag was to contain five things that represented parts of him and could be placed in any type of bag decorated in any way he wanted. We talked about his Me Bag and was a bit perplexed as to what he should bring to school. I asked him what he wanted his friends to know about him and he calmly told me that they already know everything about him. Afterall, he has been going to school with these kids for years now, practically his entire life. I tried to help him out by giving examples of what five things I would put in my own Me Bag and they kid had a point. After easily name three things, coming up with items 4 and 5 were much harder than I expect. What facts about me would I end up eliminating? What facts were important enough for a "new friend" to know? What did the five things say about me without saying anything?

It took us two days, but we did come up with a Me Bag for Little Clover. He picked a sports theme gift bag to hold his objects, and I got some insight on what he values. He packed a polar bear to represent his recent trip to Alaska. He's a globe trotter and probably will be his entire life. In his short life, he's seen more than some adults. He packed a baseball because he loves sports, and baseball is his favorite. He also brought a fish so that he could tell his friends about how much he loves to go fishing. He thought about bringing the Wolly Bugger fly he tied but quickly decided against it for two reasons. One, it had a hook and the hook is sharp and could hurt someone. Secondly, it has the word "bugger" and that's not a nice word to say at school. I love his reasoning.

Little Clover also packed a picture of our dog Spot who has been a great companion to the entire family. He also makes a fantastic outfielder when we play baseball in the yard. Finally, Little Clover packed his snow leopard because he loves animals. Snow has been with us for almost five years now. Snow was lost in Dulles International Airport for a frantic three days last year. Snow still keeps Little Clover company at night, which shows that even though he is growing up, he is still a little boy.

As for my Me Bag, I'd pack a picture of our little family (with Spot), my knitting (which is almost always with me), a Wolly Bugger, a kitchen utensil, and a four leaf clover. What would be in your Me Bag?