LePen
Before the dawn of big “office stores” and online retailers, there were independent office supply stores. Growing up, I loved tagging along with my dad when he’d go to “the office supply store.” The place smelled like fresh paper and just-vacuumed carpet. And I loved the pen aisle. Gobs and pens and markers to choose from and a large piece of paper on which to try them all out.
Today, if I’m in an art supply store, I’m in the pen aisle! I smile at the sight of those honeycomb-like containers playing host to a rainbow of color options and an array of tip styles. But I will always leave the store with a LePen. These delicate little pens are narrow and extremely light. The ink doesn’t bleed beyond the lines I draw. It knows its place. A LePen provides just the right amount of ink per stroke when you’re addressing an envelope. Superfine writing at its best!
And believe me, I use LePen(s) a lot. I may be an email machine during the day, and check in on the Blackberry at night, but when it comes to communicating something special and sincere, I appreciate hand-written notes…..more than you know! A medium-sized box on a bookshelf houses special cards and notes I’ve received over the years. And a long buffet drawer in my living room holds a collection of stationery and carefully selected greeting cards I will one day send. Altogether it’s a testament to my belief that there is something very dear in the classic pen*-meets-paper way of communicating. (*Pen, of course, being LePen.)
Aside from art supply nuts and parents with young kids (and thus plastic bins full of thick markers), not a lot of adults branch out beyond Bic and Sharpie. But maybe you should.
And finally, poppies!
