I’ve been planning for Lisa’s birthday for some time, and like many husbands, have a harder time every year finding something to give for gift giving occasions. This year was no different, even though several hints had been given throughout the first half of the year. Unlike myself, Lisa isn’t as hard core a collector of pens, her pen collection is primarily amazing users and there is no pen that is a trophy specimen sitting in the pen chest. Probably 90% of her pens see rotation time throughout the year. From the obsessive compulsive side of the camp, this makes it difficult. Not only do I have to find a pen I know she really wants, I have to make sure it is an awesome writer too. I’m starting to get a feel for what she likes in a pen and what writing characteristics suit her, so this helps, but by no means does it make it easy.
A couple years ago in Columbus we picked up a nice Montblanc 124 in the auction. We joke about these 1970’s pens as the Montblancs that don’t look like Montblancs. This one had a beautiful lined gold filled cap and a large broad nib. I’m not sure if she got caught up in auction fever or just was struck by the beauty of this pen, but we ended up with it despite her hatred of broad nibs. We had it for about six months before we decided to sell it. Sadly, it was not a good fit for either of us. It went to a good home, however, so we were happy to pass it on. Shortly thereafter we spotted another one on a dealer’s table. Lisa eyed it up with that look of a long lost friend. She held it in her hand, grabbed the cap, pulled it off and smiled. She put it down, then picked it up again. We’ve all done it. A couple shows later after having done the same thing a number of times I bought it. After learning the hard way it needed to be restored, I got the piston working properly again, and Mike Matsuyama tweaked the extra fine nib for her and we were set.
This year while hunting down my birthday present, we made a stop at Lisa’s other favorite guilty pleasure, the Coach outlet store. We unfortunately don’t get a chance to stop all that often, despite passing by numerous outlet malls on the way to pen shows. Well, we had a chance to go and she fell in love with this wallet for her purse. Since it was my favorite color, blue, I grabbed it for her. Of course, I made her wait to receive the wallet and the pen. I think the pen and the wallet go together well, don’t you?
Purse & Pen
Happy Birthday Lisa!
Brian