bag for marbles

When I was in grade school, I'll take a guess at eight years of age, my mother made a marble bag for me. Us boys would play marbles at school and if you played "Pots" for "keeps" and you were any good, you had to store all your winnings, which consisted of other kids marbles. I remember having a lot of marbles and I must have mentioned to my mom that I didn't have a bag for my marbles so she took a sturdy piece of material and some thread, and with her sewing machine she made a bag for me.

This bag wasn't fancy, it didn't have anything so luxurious as a drawstring but it did the job. The marbles eventually were placed in a glass top Mason jar and the bag was laid aside. I still have it.

A few years ago when I started archery hunting for deer I needed a distinctive place to put my paperwork when I went to the timber; my license and deer tag (an adhesive backed printed label in Illinois and a piece of paper with your name written on it in Indiana). The funny thing is I somehow happened upon that old marble bag and I turned it into my paperwork bag and it has served me well for the last ten or so years.

The bag goes in a pack with various knives, calls, a drag rope, flashlight, and other sundry items and it has faithfully performed well in all kinds of weather. I got to thinking recently, how many things does a person own that you have as a child, and you're still using in some manner when you're an old man? That bag has to be somewhere around 45-50 years old

What do I have that dates back to my childhood? I don't have my first Bible, although I still have a Bible concordance I bought when I was in junior high. I have a few odds and ends that I bought in high school that I still own. That marble bag may be the oldest piece of personal property I own and still use, not counting of course family heirlooms or antiques. What a throwaway culture we have become.

Funny things is, I'm not sentimental about the bag. I could throw it away today. But why? It's still doing the job.