Penning His Nibs

It’s been said “reliving an experience is not the same thing.” I had this point driven home to me in  a very simple way the other day.

Since I am a writer, for quite awhile I have had this hankering to re-experience what it’s like to use a cartridge pen. Who remembers learning to write with one? If you do, you are probably in your “renaissance years” just like me.

I haven’t wanted to sink much money into getting a fancy-schmancy cartridge pen because the other words for cartridge pens have always been from my past experience, “a fount of ultimate frustration.” But “her nibs,” meaning me, found a way around it when I came across disposable cartridge pens on the internet for $3 a pop. You know what that means – eloquent but humble and if you don’t like it  – chuck it! So, since I was placing an order for something else anyway, I had one pen added into the package – no additional shipping costs.

I was chompin’ at the bit to try it, so as soon as the delivery came, I put pen to paper. What’s this? I asked. The pen tip does not scratch across the page, no blotches, bleeding, spillage or smearing of ink or undependable flow?

My new fountain pen has already been put to good use.

Just kidding….

But…Baby boomer, couldn’t you just feel his royal frustration the day the Prince of Wales became King of England and his ancestors’ fountain pen was leaking all over his nibs and the document he was attempting to sign? I felt kind of sorry for the guy. It is a terrible position to be in.

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past but by the responsibility for our future.” ~ George Bernard Shaw