Wallet

Expert opinion differs on the age of my current wallet — it may have been a gift from the mid 1980s, or a purchase I made before a trip to Baja California at the beginning of 1990. It's held up well in the (many) years since, but has been showing signs of wear for as long as I can remember — the velcro is tattered and worn, and it doesn't really hold the wallet properly closed. One of the compartments has opened, though not so much so that I'm in imminent danger of losing any of the important but unnecessary memorabilia I've accumulated as the years have passed.

I bought a new wallet today — it was less an impulse purchase than one made in a hurry, mostly because I just happened to be passing through that section of the store. As I began the ceremonial transfer from one wallet to another — it's similar to an official transfer of power, but without any spoken oaths — I quickly came to realize that this new one wouldn't hold half of what I have in my current wallet, and I'd have to make some difficult choices. (I don't really need the transit passes I used in London in 1992, do I?) This wallet wouldn't even hold a mere fraction of the completely pointless stuff I like to carry with me.

Old business cards, notes and receipts. (I have a fading receipt from Burger King that had me having paid $2,000, and receiving $1,992.13 in change.) Old pennies. A penny that had been flattened when run over by a commuter train. The blank dime that (I think) was never properly stamped. The key to an old can of SPAM. (Do they even have keys these days?) An old voter registration card. An airline boarding pass. A train ticket. My membership card for the "Freakies" Fan Club. My "Batman" credit card (from 1966).

But more than that, it's been so many years that I've become accustomed to this particular arrangement of the pockets and compartments. I know where everything is (in the unlikely event I ever need any of it). I think what I need is to find is my old wallet, all over again. Until that happens, I suppose I'll continue to slowly, inevitably wear away the one I have.