@paperbagsandsharpies on the Instagram

I do this random thing every morning for Sydney's lunch bags: I draw little images on them. I think the beauty and fun of them is that I am not a good drawer. They are so elementary looking, and full of stick figures and animals and bugs, but I find them very amusing. Sydney, of course, does not find them as amusing as I do, and many days ends up trying to hide them (I found this out not long ago).
But I'm stubborn, and I find them fun, so I continue to draw them. I decided last week though that this would be the last year/semester that I draw on her bags. In a few months, she'll be done with middle school and heading to high school, and that's just not at all the place where moms continue to draw on lunch bags.
I've had an Instagram for my lunch bag drawings, and you know what's interesting? There is a very real community of parents who draw on their kids' lunch bags, and post them to their Instagram. Some of them are really, really good, too, which is what makes it so much fun for me to post mine. I've never sought any of these people out, but over the last couple years, I've amassed 75 followers. I follow a few too, and it's lovely how we all like and support each other's art. For me, I'd put "art" in quotation marks, but for so many of the others, their drawings are very, very well done. They're awesome, in fact! Such wonderful color, and detail, and care and humor put into their lunch bags and napkins. It's amazing to be a part of it. So, I'll miss that, for sure. But again, oh well; I guess I'll hang out under a tree and read a book instead.