backpack

A backpack with its two large pockets zipped shut, revealing a pair of velcro tabs, one on the rain flap and one on the bag-side of the rain flap of each.

A backpack with its two large pockets zipped shut, with the velcro tabs used to fold the rain flaps away from their respective zippers.

A backpack with its two large pockets zipped open, with the velcro tabs used to fold the rain flaps away from the zippers.

Today I followed through on a fix that I’ve thought about every single time I’ve used the day pack I’ve been carrying around for at least the last twenty years. Whether empty or full, the bag is a repository of memories, as I realize in setting down to write around the photos below. So we’ll start with memories, and go on from there. I have a rough idea of the backpack’s age because I remember buying it at the “Big 1” (ビッグワン) discount store on the road between Hirabari station and the University family residence that was our first home here in Nagoya.