It started off as a blank slate. Just sitting there naked on the Target shelf next to all of the other reusable, recyclable water bottles. It was a blank slate and it was my canvas. It is my canvas.
I picked up the brand spankin’ new pink Nalgene just before my friends and I made the drive from Elon, North Carolina to Key West, Florida last spring break. And that’s where the journey began. Almost exactly one year ago.
After surviving the 15 hour, 978 mile drive, my water bottle earned its first sticker: Ron Jon Surf Shop in Key West. It then spent the rest of the trip boiling in the sun just like me. For the rest of the school year, the pink Nalgene went wherever I went. Living on my nightstand, in the library, or thrown on the floor underneath my desk.
Last summer, it tagged along with me to my first internship, and to my job at a restaurant at the beach. It was tossed into my work bag, an added weight. It rolled around the passenger side of my car along the floor mats during my commute, but always managed to get through the day with me.
By the end of the summer, it had added a new identity, and was branded with my summer place of employment, "Nantucket’s restaurant: Fenwick Island USA," the sticker reads. Each time I look at it, I am reminded of my unforgettable summer, filling me with nostalgia about the amazing experiences I had, and the simply life-changing people I met.
When I got home, it was thrown in the dishwasher once or twice (don’t worry, this wasn’t its first wash), then jetted across the Atlantic to London with me. The water bottle was now sporting passport stamps from Key West and Fenwick Island in the form of stickers. It was bumped through security, filled with mediocre airport water fountain water, and then finally took its position in the side pocket of my book bag.
It explored each and every city across Europe with me (and the multiple forms and tastes of the world’s water), and has the tattoos on it’s pink cylinder to prove it. Ireland, Copenhagen, London and notable restaurants in London are just a few stickers that have made their permanent seal on my water bottle.
It’s because of these travels that my heart sinks and my stomach takes a hit when I’ve realized I left it somewhere. With all of the places it has traveled, all of the journeys the pink Nalgene has been on, losing it is like losing memories.
I snap at my mom when she mentions that my pink Nalgene covered in stickers is looking a little grody despite its washes. I wince and become defensive at her even suggesting that I replace it.
And while it is getting worn down, the dents on the edges and the stickers slightly tattered and frayed, I see it not as the Nalgene breaking down. Instead, these are marks of experience. My water bottle is a map of the places I’ve traveled; it’s a map of my adventures.
