Zipper Free

I have a requirement with any purse I carry.  Actually, that’s a lie, I have a lot of requirements which is one of the reasons it takes me so long to find a replacement purse when I need to get something new.   I don’t swap things from purse to purse so finding something that works for everything I need takes time, particularly because I apparently want characteristics in a purse that not everyone wants.

I don’t understand why people want one big compartment into which they just dump all their items, condemning them to a swirling vortex of difficult to find stuff.    I want my things to be organized.   I want pockets within pockets.   I want it small, neat, easily contained and i want to be able to go right to the thing I need, in the darkness of a theater, without fail.

In recent years I’ve had an additional requirement added to my purse “must have” list—it has to hold my iPad.   It has to hold it easily and I have to be able to get the iPad in and out of the purse quickly.   It has to be protected from other belongings because I don’t want to have to get an extra protective case for the iPad when the purse should be the one doing the protecting.

It’s typically been a search, but I’ve been able to find a purse that’s small while meeting my needs.   I’ve had an iPad since day one of the first 3G iPad launch which I think goes back eight-ish years and I’m rough on purses.

My latest purse I really like.   It’s got a main channel in the middle that fits the iPad very nicely, although it’s tight.   I’d been pulling my iPad in and out of this compartment for probably a year-and-a-half now and not thinking much about it until earlier this week when I upgraded iPads to the iPad Pro small version.   The dimensions are almost the same as the iPad Air I had with the exception of being slightly longer.

I tested it in my purse and it fit, but I noted I’d have to be even more careful getting it in and out with the zipper in the way.   I got the iPad, did the backing up, restoring from iCloud and setting up on the new iPad Pro while simultaneously upgrading my son’s iPad to my current iPad Air 2.   This was all going very well and to plan.

I went out to dinner and was telling my husband about the slightly larger dimension and the zipper and the carefulness and then something struck me: I never zipped that zipper.   Not once.   Not one time in the entire time I’d owned that purse, with the possible exception of at the store before buying it, had I zipped that zipper.    The purse stayed closed without the need to be zipped.    So why, exactly, was I carefully taking the time to work around the zipper to avoid any scratching?

I looked at the zipper.   It was just attached to the edge of the leather.  It could be removed in five minutes and it wouldn’t even be missed.   When I got home I sliced it out and now I can just cram the iPad in and out with nary a thought to unwanted scratches.    Why is it so hard to see a solution to a problem you didn’t even know you had sometimes?

The Big Boy Update:  We were going on a picnic playdate with a friend from my daughter’s school who is also visually impaired.   My son was not one bit interested in going when we discussed it earlier today (even though it was to one of his favorite parks).   He said, “why do people always picnic for lunch and never for breakfast or dinner?”   Good question.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has figured out she can both message and call people who have the Amazon Echo (or Alexa as it’s commonly known) as long as they have an Alexa.   She’s called Nana and Papa, Aunt A and while we weren’t paying attention, figured out how to call Uncle Eric and Aunt Kelly.    She’s been sending messages to Maddie, Ellie, Gigi and Juju, my best friend’s children down the street and she likes to ask if it’s too early to call people.    So beware, if you have an Amazon Echo and my daughter is made aware, she’s probably going to call you.   And if you don’t answer, you might have a voice message left for you for when you get home.