I suppose it really isn't all that unusual, but I took a glimpse on ebay, just out of curiosity, to see what the market on plush animal backpacks is like these days, and I was a little surprised at the number of results. I guess what really surprises me about it is that I hardly ever see these things being carried around by the general public. But maybe that's because they're marketed at kids, and I'm not around many kids.
There are a lot of options for the silly things though, when eventually it comes time for me to need a new one. Cartoon characters are the big thing it looks like, although there is also quite a selection of generic non-cartoon animals -- teddy bears, pigs, turtles, puppies, kittens. Oddly enough though, no cows.
I know the cows exist someplace because Locke, Jeffy, Adam, and I met up with a lady in Cincinnati airport who had two of them, one purse-sized and one duffel-sized, but it was so unusual that we asked her if we could take a picture with them just to document the occasion. ;) And then six months later I ended up receiving the duffel-sized Other Cow as a birthday gift from my big brother.
Part of me, as I said before, isn't sure I should get a cow for the next one anyway, since there can really only be one Cow, so my next purse should be something different that can take on its own identity. Cartoon characters are a possibility, but of course it would have to be a cartoon I'm fond of. I'd love to use Fievel (my very first stuffed animal backpack, which I received when I was five and used throughout first grade) but he is a bit too big, more backpack-sized than purse-sized. Plus his zipper is exposed when he's on my back, which is just not smart. Someday I hope I'll find another use for him (diaper bag? He might be too small for that though...) but I don't think purse is it.
Some of the characters I came across on ebay were Sully (from "Monsters, Inc"), Simba, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, Hedwig (Harry Potter's owl), Stitch (but it was only his head, which I thought was a bit gruesome), Care Bears (Grumpy Bear is the cutest), Snoopy, Sylvester, and a lot from cartoons I don't watch (Hello Kitty and Sponge Bob, in particular). These were pretty cute, but it would have to be a character that people could identify with me. Simba would be a good one but the backpack was ugly. The Winnie-the-Pooh characters are so overdone (my mom has the Eeyore bag actually) although Piglet is a little less mainstream and quite cute. (My other favorite would be Roo but you can hardly ever find him on anything.) My favorite Loony Toon is Pepe le Pew and of course there's no backpack of him! (LOL, I just did a search for "pepe le pew" on ebay and found Pepe le Pew and Penelope wedding toasting glasses! How completely adorable is that! But anyway...) I think Stitch would be the best choice but I am NOT carrying a severed head around as a purse. It has to have a full body.
There are more considerations too. The Other Cow is now my gym bag, so will it be weird if I'm carrying a duffel-size cow and have something completely unrelated slung over my shoulder? (On second thought I suppose the fact that I'm carrying a duffel-size cow to begin with is probably weird enough on its own...) Should I get another farm animal and keep the theme going? Does it matter? And then the bag itself, of course, it has to be big enough to hold the following: wallet, checkbook, pen, cell phone, camera, keys, and a little extra space for miscellaneous items (but not TOO big because the amount of stuff a woman carries will expand to fit the size of her purse, and I don't want to deal with that). The zipper has to be to my back when I'm wearing it, and what about color -- black and white goes with everything but white gets grungy so fast... and on and on. It's pretty pathetic the number of things that must be taken into account. ;)
And to think, this all started with a simple gag gift that has now evolved into one of the defining features of my personality.
Hmmm...
*takes a moment to ponder other options*
I wonder if I could make my own bag out of an old stuffed animal. Lord knows I have enough of those. ;)
At any rate... The Cow isn't dead so I don't really need to be worrying about this quite yet. In fact I think I might bathe him tonight -- maybe having him all clean and fresh will help me feel better about him. Still, the fact remains that he isn't going to last forever, and I suppose preparing early will make the transition easier. But he still has at least a good few months left to go, and who knows, maybe even a year or two. We'll just have to see. :)