Hasn't Anyone Figured Out What Women Want in Purses?

Why do purse manufacturers still make cellphone pockets?  When was the last time most of us had phones that actually fit in those pockets?  I'm talking Tory Burch Kate Spade Michael Kors Coach--you name it.  I have yet to find a purse with a pouch that will fit my Galaxy S4.  It's not like I'm the only woman who owns a smart phone.  My current purse, a very nice Coach, does have a wider pocket, but it's not deep enough for my smart phone.  So I try to find something else to put in it.  I try keys, but they fall out.  The pocket isn't long enough to fit my glasses.  So there it sits, mostly empty.  The inside zip pocket always has been, and always will, be for lipstick and small compact.  Because no one wants lipstick rolling around loose in her purse--too much risk of smearage.

And did I mention size and weight?  I'm not lugging around a suitcase--it's a purse that should be large enough to hold the following:  Galaxy S4 smartphone; two pairs of glasses (reading and sun); small wallet; keys; lipstick and compact.  And it has to have an outside pocket/pouch for small papers/shopping lists.  THAT'S IT.  Versatile crossbody is best, so I can be hands free, but use a smaller handle when I want.  Most of the small purses are too narrow--they won't fit the phone and glasses (and I have the thinnest glasses possible), and most of rest of the purses are like black holes inside.  Everything clumps together in a deep chasm that requires one to rummage around and find, by feel, what you're looking for.

I've been looking at purses on line and found three I really like--Kate Spade Cobble Hill Little Curtis; Coach MiniBorough; and Coach Madison Chain Crossbody.  Sizes seem manageable--the Coach Madison is narrower, but might work as an evening purse.  It has slits for credit cards, so no need for the small wallet, which saves space.  But back to the Can Purse Makers Please Find Their Way Into the 21st Century:  The Kate Spade Little Curtis (10x8 1/2-5) has "double side pockets" inside.  Message to potential buyer:  these pockets are too small for a smart phone, but we don't care; see if you can figure out why we still insist on having these, and what will fit without falling out.  WE DARE YOU!

 The Coach Mini Borough 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 x 3) has "inside open pockets"--at least they don't call them cellphone pockets.  One pocket looks longer than the other; hard to tell if it's long enough for my 6" phone.  The smaller pocket looks suspiciously like a cellphone-sized pocket.  They don't give the inner pocket dimensions, so this one I would have to test in person.    The third purse, the Coach Madison Chain Crossbody (8 1/2 x 5 1/2) has no depth measurement, which means it's thin.  But because they have 8 pockets for credit cards and other thin items, the interior looks more modern.  The issue will be whether it's wide enough for my phone (which is nearly 1/2 inch thick with the Otterbox case) and two pairs of glasses.  If it's an evening purse, I don't need the keys.  And, OK, maybe not the sunglasses. But I do need the reading glasses.

The Kate Spade has one edge over the Mini Borough--it has an exterior zip pocket (Yay!); the Mini Borough does not (sigh).  The Mini Borough does have multiple zip closures--maybe that will help compensate for the lack of exterior pocket.  The Kate Spade is $100 cheaper, though ($278 vs $378). The smaller Coach Madison Chain Crossbody is $198.

Why can't anyone make the perfect purse?

61 and counting?

I glanced through an article in this week's Health and Science section of the Washington Post, entitled "the Years Lost to Cancer".  I scanned through the list and found melanoma.  The I looked at the column that said "median age at diagnosis and death".  Median age at diagnosis:  61.  That's my age, and the age I was diagnosed with melanoma.  The median age at death?  69.  I didn't look at, or understand, some of the other data.  Like "in millions of years of life lost"--.15 for melanoma.  Too remote and abstract for me.  But age 69 is a real number, and only 8 years away.  OK, they don't say what kind of melanoma diagnosis, and they don't say what percentage of people who get melanoma die from it.  I'm assuming the number 69 refers to:  of those who died from melanoma, the median age was 69.  All the char shows is number of deaths in 2010 (9 thousand) compared to number of new cases (68 thousand).  Those two statistics aren't related; I don't know why they are juxtaposed.

Anyway, part of me assumes I'll live to be about 90, since both my parents did (my mother died 2 months after turning 90, my father 3 months before he would have turned 90).  But then again, neither of them were diagnosed with cancer when they were 61.

Sorely Tested

I know I said this year I would focus on staying positive; on paying attention to the thoughts in my head and gently redirecting them if they turned negative.  But everything fell apart during the crisis.  None of the techniques that work when one is fairly calm worked.  I would meditate, and find myself sobbing partway through the meditation.  Don't think ahead, I told myself.  Don't project dark thoughts into the future.  As the crisis subsided I was a little less panicked, but it threw me.  And now it's hard not to think about when the next crisis would hit.  I was beginning to think there wouldn't be another crisis; beginning to have real hope for the future.  But now we're shaken and are trying to regroup.  I can't tell myself to be positive, because I don't know what that means.  Thinking that everything will work itself out; will be just fine, doesn't work.  So now I tell myself to stay in the moment.  Don't think forward, don't think back.  But it's hard.