Packing it in

There was a scene in the funny Woody Allen movie "Play It Again, Sam" in which Woody plans a weekend getaway with his friends, who want to take him to the beach to help him forget another failed romance.  Woody tells them he will be glad to ride in their car, but they'll need another vehicle to trail them to carry along all of his medications, prescriptions and nostrums.

I've seen the movie in the oldtime theatre at Pocomoke City, MD, at a mall theatre in Baltimore, and on television.  Every time that scene unfolds, everyone else around me laughs uproariously.  And I sit there thinking, "What a great idea!"

I am the very opposite of a light packer.  In fact, the Green Bay Packers travel with fewer packages and suitcases for all their players, coaches and trainers than I do for a weekend getaway.

Why, you and Peggy ask, why do I take so much stuff everywhere I go?

First of all, this being Maryland, you can't count on the weather to be the same two hours in a row, so you need long and short sleeved shirts, long and short cargo pants, wool sox and red cotton sox, and a light jacket and a heavy jacket.  Razors, aftershave, emollients, talcum powder, Tylenol, Tylenol PM, vitamins, aspirin.

Books, magazines, newspapers, cell phone, tablet, stamps for postcards, chargers, snacks, and bottled water all go for the ride, too.

In some other life, I must have been in a vacation spot and all the drugstores were closed, so I was forced to go on the beach without Sea and Ski or something.

It's hard to pack and carry all this gear, but on the other hand, I don't need to take as much money with me, because I'm always prepared.

In fact, sometimes the drugstore at our favorite beach place sometimes calls when they run out of calamine lotion or Noxzema.

They know I have some!