My love of……pens

There is something about having a great pen that makes writing better!  I love to write and am required to do so with my work….a lot.  So when I find a great pen, I horde it, am careful with it and am actually a little sad if it runs out of ink and I cannot replace it.  Because through our span together, it has been my accomplice to everything recorded in my world and like a good friend, it never betrays my confidence.

My dad loved pens also.  He had his special pens, in a denim pencil case, with a pocket, which we were not allowed to use.  He always put his pen or pens back when he was finished with it, so that he knew where it was.

That legacy was passed to me and when I went away to university, my biggest pet peeve was when someone borrowed a pen from me during class (yes – I predate when everyone brought a laptop to class) and then did not return it to me.  It would cause me to stew about whether I should approach them for the pen or just accept its loss.  So, I deliberately started bringing pens with me, that I did not mind if they were lost, because they were not part of my favorite pen collection.

And receiving really great pens has added to my memory bank.  My best girl friend, moved to England when her father was transferred and she got me my first ink cartridge pen.  It was a fountain pen (red with black borders) and I loved writing with it.  It just made whatever I wrote look better and sound better (cannot explain it).  She would send me the refills throughout her time there, and that special blueness of the ink is not one that can be replicated. When I find something that I had written back then with that pen, its distinctiveness is immediate!  I never got another fountain pen because I do not think that anything could match that pen experience.

When I graduated from high school, my best guy friend, bought me a pen and pencil set and had his nickname for me, Foxy Roxy, engraved on them.  It was a silver Cross set and the present, was so thoughtful and appropriate for me.   I used that set throughout university and trust me, I never lent anyone this pen or pencil set.  It was the perfect present.

But my favourite pen of all time is one that my dad got me when I was a kid.  We used to attend every year at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and we always attended at the International Pavilion where they had booths from countries around the world.  We always got a special treat from the CNE and that year, I got a few treats, but this pen was the best.  It was from India and it was made of Sandalwood.  The pen wrote smoothly, but then when you held the pen, the scent of Sandalwood permeated the air.  The wood carving on the pen was exquisite and it was perhaps too nice a pen for a 9 year old, but my dad understood my love of pens.  It was the most unique pen and my love of the scent of Sandalwood was born as a result.  I kept this pen for years, and the scent of the sandalwood faded, but never disappeared.  Unfortunately, I lost this pen while moving and could never find another pen like it.  But that’s ok; the memory of having this pen is what is important.

And today, I still loving using great pens.  It just makes my world a better place.  And for me, the pen is still mightier than a sword….. a lesson that resonates especially in the crazy chaos of the current day.

But that’s just one Diva’s view!