Curiously, Sarah Jane: A backpack, a Bible, a coloring book, a journal and a list

Part one - a backpack

There is a hiking backpack from the 1970's sitting on the floor of my room. Next to it is a small pile consisting of my Bible, an Alice in Wonderland coloring book, a journal, and a list scribbled on black and white floral paper.

Then there is me. Sitting on the opposite side of the room, laptop on the bed and phone beside me, not knowing how to proceed in the task of preparing for my ensuing time abroad.

Let's begin with the backpack. It has a story all its own which is about to become intertwined with my own.

This backpack belonged to my father, who after a weekend camping trip two summers ago decided it was time to pass it along to me. Its story begins in the 1970's when my father was a firefighter and hiking backpacks with internal frames were the newest and hottest thing on the outdoorsman market. He carried this backpack to fires, living out of it under the harshest of working conditions, and loved it. When he wasn't toting it along to wildfires my dad used it for the purposes the great minds at Caribou Mountaineering had in mind for it - backpacking.

It came as a surprise when he offered the backpack to me. We were standing in the garage, clean of the smell of dirt and pine for the first time in days and busily putting away our camping gear. Somewhere in the middle of handing off the tent and asking where the sleeping bags belonged he told me to try on the backpack. With a few tugs at straps here and there the backpack hugged me as if it was meant for my body. Smiling both from the memories he had with the dusty blue bag and the fact that his daughter remembered his instruction on how to properly adjust and carry a backpack, he told me that if I wanted the backpack it was mine from that point on.

Which brings us to now. There is a hiking backpack in my room, waiting to be filled with the usual goods of an international trip. Its fabric is a dull dusty blue, it has leather patches that serve a purpose unbeknownst to this traveler, and its bungee cords and equipment straps are mustard yellow as are its zipper pulls. Just looking at it you can tell it has a story. Soon, the stories of countless wildfires and hiking trips will have a new companion, the story of how a girl took a backpack to a far off country.