I am packing for camping, looking for clothes that I don’t mind messing up, and finding the bandanas in among my nice scarves. I never wear my nice scarves; I also don’t usually buy expensive clothes, because what if I had to mess them up? What if I had to climb a tree? Or kick off my shoes, to run or swim? Or ripped my pants, climbing over a fence?

This also rules my purse. There must be something for writing, of course, but what about dental floss? Not only does it get things out of your teeth that would otherwise bug you all day, but if your plan crashed in the wilds of Canada, you could tie things together with it. And lotion and chap stick and gum and a pen and a pencil so you can hold back your hair while you use the pen, and what about a sweater and a water bottle?

I read so many stories of making due. Narnia, especially. Lucy had to kick off her shoes at the beginning of Dawn Treader, and went barefooted most of the rest of the book. Jill and Eustance began wearing shorts and sweaters, and had to hike and camp and freeze, in shorts. What if you have to use your girdle as a break shoe, or use your hat pin to fix an engine? If you have an extra bandana you can make a swim top, when you are stranded on a beach. Always carry matches. Wear 2 slips, and stockings, and an undershirt, so that you have bandages and rope and extra fabric, when you crash on that island and have to run around in a skirt and bra, and use your underwear to catch fish.

You can see why I don’t usually shop at Banana Republic of Gap. Why spend so much money, especially since I spent years wearing holes in the knees of my jeans before I outgrew them? Outdated logic patterns die hard.