The Butterfly Bag

When Lilah was a wee babe, a friend of mine prepared us a lovely dinner (complete with dessert!) and brought it over for us to cook and enjoy at our leisure.  She brought this wonderful gift of food in a reusable shopping bag.  But not just any cloth bag.  No, this one was extra-special and, as it turns out, it has become an integral part of our family life.

The Butterfly Bag is large and square, so it can fit almost anywhere, holds most anything we want it to, and stands up on its own when properly packed.  The icing on the cake?  It also has durable handles and a zipper.  It can be used as a grocery bag, carry-all for toddler paraphernalia, or swim bag, to name just a few of its many uses.


The Butterfly Bag full of towels, bathing suits, water,
and snacks, in anticipation of Sunday swim class

 But this bag isn't just incredibly useful.  The Butterfly Bag has also become, to me, a symbol of the Hubs's complete security with himself and his masculinity.  He couldn't care less that this bag is printed with butterflies in rainbow colours, which, by ttraditional standards, would make it "girly," or, at the very least, less than manly.  In truth, he prefers this bag to all others due to its aforementioned utility as a shopping bag and all-around tote.  Seeing as we are raising a girl, I think this bodes very well for the future, when he will almost certainly be called upon to don a tiara and/or feather boa, play tea party (pinkies out, of course), and let Lilah practice her manicuring skills on him with pink sparkly nail polish.  In fact, just this very evening, he patiently kept his head absolutely still while she attempted to put clips and bows in his hair.

I am very proud to say that I am married to a man who has great self-esteem but very little ego; who likes to cook more than I do and considers the kitchen his domain; who does a large portion of our meal-planning and grocery shopping and who isn't afraid to carry a rainbow Butterfly Bag while doing it!