when will i see you again?

I took my beloved green backpack to the LLBean store in Mansfield this afternoon to be repaired. It didn't go to the mothership in Freeport, Maine since I was told over the phone that I could go to a retail store, and they would send it to Freeport to be repaired. I turned down the free bag, and I cited my call to the Call Center this morning regarding the repair.
It was really hard handing over my bag. I may not again see the scruffy backpack that has accompanied me to every foreign country I've visited. It was hard to part with the Qantas luggage tags from my flight to Sydney, or the valet tags from the Fairmont Chicago. Just this morning I pulled out a 10 year old ticket for the Rennes Star bus from my term abroad.
I filled out the makeshift information form, and I'm curiously awaiting confirmation that it will be repaired in Maine. Fingers crossed. T-minus 13 days to France.

meet my backpack...

So my backpack and I were united in October 1994. It was a 17th birthday present...oddly enough. It was the middle of the grunge phase, and at my school everyone had one glued to their backs. Both straps over both arms, because it was now socially okay to do that, not just the over one shoulder thing that seemed to have evolved in the mid 1980s. I used it everyday to school, and then every day in college.

When I got to grad school, I thought it'd go into semi-retirement, only working on holiday. I had a messenger bag. And my backpack was only for the days when I had too much stuff to carry for work. I grew out of the messenger bag thing, and I matured into the tote bag thing for work...that's my work bag status now. But whenever I want to hit the gym after work, the backpack is the bag of choice. Since I work in a place where our bags are checked upon leaving, my backpack always gets checked, but my other bags not so much. Considering I walk 2 miles to work and back everyday, I must state that I make better time with my backpack than any other bag I own.

It's got some advantages: fits under airline seats, lots of pockets, can hold clothes for 5 days, still works even with a broken zipper (need to contact LL Bean about that)

It's been some really cool places with me, and some I bet it wishes it never had been dragged.

Furthest away: Hobart, Tasmania
Closest: work, school (as in high school, college)
Best: Bondi Beach, Sydney
Worst: Great Barrier Reef during a severe bout of seasickness
Most recognizable: Rennes, France. No one used backpacks in France in 1997. There were 60 US high school students in the city, and we could 'em out (and vice versa) with their backpacks (LL Bean Deluxe Book Pack, just like mine)
Hottest: Negev Desert
Coldest: Walking to work this winter in Boston
First time on a plane: Boston-London (via Brussels) in a suitcase
Last time on a plane: Boston-Indianapolis
Next time on a plane: Boston-Chicago tomorrow
Most crowded place: Indianapolis 500
Least populated: Mýrdalsjökull glacier, Iceland--it stayed in the van, but it was there...
First time sniffed by police dogs: baggage claim in Hobart. No importing of fresh food from other states, without declaration.
Best trip as solo bag, not in a supporting role: Toussaint vacation, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, 5 days.
Most socially awkward: accompanying me on the school bus as a senior in high school
Hardest to find experience: anytime coming out of the dining halls in college

Its been molded to me since age 17, and still there now that I'm almost 30...that's reliability...maybe it could get in an ad for LLBean?!?!?!