Of Leather Bags and Growing Up

I don't recall exactly when, but a few years after I graduated from college I had a yearning to be the owner of a leather bag. One that, at least to me, looks professional, rather than those typical college messenger-type school bags. I looked far and wide and I saw mostly poor quality leather, or those made in China which had a fake luxury brand on it (I can't stand those). 

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw the perfect bag of my dreams in a night market Hong Kong. It was like the angels descended from heaven and blew on their golden trumpets. Naturally I had to haggle aggressively until I got a reasonable price of USD 40, if I recall correctly. Now, I'm no leather expert but just the look, feel, smell and touch of my bag just tells me it's real cowhide leather. (The vendor may have reinforced these sensations). But today, if there was such a thing as hearing the authenticity of real leather, I probably would hear it loud and clear.

Can you believe someone once told me he didn't like my bag, simply because it was too small. FYI, I like it just the way it is. Jerk.