WHEN TRENDY IS NOT BETTER

I have been trying to talk Jerry into carrying a stylish men’s purse – not a purse like I have, although mine is no longer called a purse but a satchel, but he’s not buying a word of my “talk” and certainly not of “style.”

Maybe 10 years or so ago one began seeing men carrying tidy little leather – well, what else is there to call them except “purses.” They were not at all like what a woman would carry. I’m assuming the men could carry in them their wallet, a note pad, a handkerchief, credit cards, a pen or pencil and whatever else men carry. I thought – and still think – that they look pretty nifty, and very masculine. In a nutshell, stylish but with great usefulness.

But Jerry is old school. Men do not carry purses. Men do not wear sandals. Men do not wear necklaces. Oh, so many things men do not do.

Lately I see that the smallish men’s purse is no longer de rigueur and now the “in” look is to carry a “messenger bag.” I’m thinking how to approach Jerry to make him receptive now to carrying one of these trendy “messenger bags,” though I honestly don’t see that he’s going to budge an inch on his “men don’t do….” list. It doesn’t have to be a designer bag, although there are plenty of those on the market. But a casual medium sized bag could stand in for the briefcase he always carried when he went off to work every morning, and now that he’s retired and active in the community he could find plenty of things to use it for.

When we go out anywhere, he often asks me to hold his little medical kit he must keep with him. He asks me if I have change because he doesn’t like to keep change in his pocket, and often he’s in need of some cough-drops that I carry in my purse. If he forgets his pen he knows that I always have an extra one in my purse, as well as a piece of paper for notes. I carry the checkbook because he really doesn’t like to be bothered and he knows that I have it. I think if he just would let himself try a messenger bag out for a while, he would probably never leave home without it.

The messenger bags have been around for a while now. Jerry is not one to be in the vanguard of any trend, so I should think that he would fit right in and not need to be embarrassed by carrying it . I think it would sharpen his image a bit and maybe let him even look younger than he already does. For a man of 80, he carries his age well, and I do think this would buff up his image even more. And as you all know, looking a bit trendy is a good thing.

But this is true: he is a man who does not like change. If it was good enough for his grandfather and his father, it is good enough for him. So I am not holding my breath over him acquiescing to my suggestion. He has already said “no” to the purse, and I can hear an echo coming.

So next best is: I think maybe I’ll get myself a messenger bag, but one with a little pizzazz to it.