I am blessed with two wonderful children who give all they have to ensure I am protected, cared for and don’t fall too far off the societal curve.
While my son’s care tends to focus on keeping me current in our shared field of Pr/Marketing as well all things sports, my daughter is relentless in sending me emails, texts and messages about the latest cultural and lifestyle trends. She is also thoughtfully generous in gifting me things she believes will improve my life.
While I am grateful for the amazing items my daughter chooses for me, I tend to have the same reaction to all of them. An immediate, “Oh wow! This is awesome. I can really use this.” Followed by a need to read the directions of whatever helpful life aid she’s provided, which inevitably results in my tucking it all away until I have, “ time.”
Such was the case with a gift my daughter gave me at least ten years ago---long enough that I had no idea I had it. That is until a recent reorg of my family room. In the very back of my family room closet, stuffed into a black plastic garbage bag I discovered a Shacke Pak - 4 Set Packing Cubes with Laundry Bag.
For those uninitiated, Shacke is a company that has created a packing system of various sizes of, “cubes” that help compress, organize and store clothes when traveling.
As I unwraveled this packing system, a vague recollection of my daughter gifting me these cubes floated through my brain. No idea when or why, but it had her fingerprints all over it.
Additionally, at the bottom of that black garbage bag I retrieved two clear oversized plastic bags with black print covering one side. With a quick glance, I realized my daughter had also gifted these complimentary suitcase compression bags, used to reduce the size of packed clothes by forcing the air out of the clothing-filled bag.
I am sharing the story of my compression packing cubes and bags because today, I did my best to shoe horn 11 outfits, all coordinating accessories and complimentary shoes and boots along with an assortment of jackets and coats., into one suitcase for my upcoming South Dakota sojourn.
The thing is, this suitcase of outfits doesn’t just contain clothing for my body, it holds my first impression wardrobe calling cards as I meet The South Dakota Festival of Books organizers, fellow authors and readers who attend this prestigious event.
That’s why this morning at 9:30 I started trying on clothes, coordinating tops and bottoms, adding belts and accessories and choosing the perfect footwear to finish each outfit. An hour and a half later, while I felt good about my festival wardrobe, comparing the looming stack of clothing on my bed versus the empty cavern of my nearby suitcase,I knew I was in trouble.
Then it came to me…..the packing cubes and compression bags!
Digging into that black plastic garbage bag, I retrieved all parts of my daughter’s thoughtful travel gift and did what I should have done a decade ago. I read the directions. I next went and watched a Youtube video on the Shacke packing process. Then I took the leap and spent the next hour undertaking a “practice” pack, to see what might overflow my suitcase and have to be left home.
As it turns out of my all outfits, accessories, boots and shoes are making the trip.
That’s right, those two compression bags fit five coats in the space of one, while the cubes accomodated the rest of my perfectly matched outfits in four groups that fit neatly into my suitcase. Beneath them are the six pair of boots, one pair of shoes and a pair of sneakers.
And as I write this blog, I"m grateful for the practical gift my daughter gave me a decade ago. And I'm psyched that over eleven days, I’ll have eleven outfits to wear!