Lost and Found: “The Great Green Bag”

Lost and Found: “The Great Green Bag”
By Susan Wehrell

Welcome to a new little column we are calling Lost and Found. Tell us your tales of items lost, items found, and the stories in between.

We called it the “great green bag”, but it was actually black. Slightly larger than other reusable grocery bags, it was made out of black nylon mesh – the sort of material used in some hockey jerseys. The rim and the handles were sturdy green cloth, as was the pocket. At the grocery store, I could fill it full of the heavy groceries, and it always held up. It was the bag we used for the beach, too, and on car trips. It had been a gift from my sister-in-law in Juneau, Alaska, part of a fundraiser when her boys were in elementary school. For over 25 years, it went with me to the grocery store. I cannot calculate how many plastic bags I did not have to take home because of that useful bag.

Last February, when I got to the checkout counter at a large grocery store, the great green bag was missing from my cart. I retraced my steps, but the bag was nowhere in the store, and no one has ever turned it in to the lost and found. I have other reusable shopping bags, but none are as versatile as the great green bag. Wherever it is now, I hope it continues to be as useful for someone else as it was for us.