Adapting

Since the last day is fresh in my mind, I'm going to save the weightier hospital story after I ponder it a bit more.
Yesterday - my Friday - I had hoped to get off early but of course it wasn't meant to be. I had a few stops to make in my preparations for the grandkids coming on Saturday morning. I went to the fabric store - which is a fabric warehouse and has a limited though large selection of items. I found my sturdy blue fabric for 'cinch sacks' and noted they had a type of Aladdin's cabinet of zippers, buttons, thread, elastic and odd notions. Everything is behind a glass shelf and the assistant helps with every little thing. I told him I needed some kind of rope, cord, or ribbon to pull through a casing. Maybe the understanding wasn't quite there on both sides but I did find a type of red piping attached to a white flat piece that I decided would work just fine, so I bought 10 yards. This warehouse did not have ribbon of any type, but did have elastic and other odd pieces.
When they cut fabric at this warehouse, the assistant pulls the yardage off the bolt (most bolts are 60 inches wide) he/she will measure out how many yards standing in the isle with the bolt and a meter stick (though they mark off in yards). When they determine how many yards you want, he will fold the material at that point and taking a pair of scissors will cut down the fold. The assistants are very fast cutting down the fold from the bolts. Then they put the bolt of material back away, then using a piece of masking tape on your yardage, the assistant will write down the particulars from the end of the bolt. They will stack up all your folded purchases and carry them to the counter and add them up and tell you the total. The clerk then counts your pieces and checks with the assistant that the same number of items are accounted for and the customer buys the materials.
I never carry anything until I go out of the store with my sack of items. There are many assistants to help each customer.
In November I had made the Solera family stockings for Christmas and had bought little items throughout the month. Yesterday I wanted to make some 'cinch stacks' so they would be portable to carry on their back as they have a two hour train ride and then a bus ride to get home.
I found a great "how-to" here: https://www.makeit-loveit.com/easy-as-cinch-bag/
My dimensions were different and I put the ribbon a quarter of the way up the bag from the bottom and folded the bottom instead of sewing it up as two pieces - but essentially the same process.
They worked out fine - though the material was very sturdy and the "ribbon" didn't slide well, so it takes effort to 'cinch' it up or out. Still everything works 'almost' perfect. It's pretty much my norm here - Everything just about works.