Challenge 61: The Silver Pen

55. Discuss an important personal relationship you have had and explain how it has changed your life.


I was introduced to it when I was in the fifth grade. It was a rather special event because I had never been allowed to use it previously: the ink pen. As silly as it seems, holding the ink pen for the first time in class was a glorious moment for me. The pen had a soft silver flow and tiny blue and yellow flowers decorated the length of the pen. As the year proceeded, so did my development in mastering the arts of writing in ink. It was difficult as first and I remember having to wash off plenty of ink from my fingers during the short breaks. I remember spilling it on the carpet at home once and earning a good scolding for doing so. I remember getting blue fingerprints on the pages of a precious school-owed book and having to stand outside class, my ears glowing pink with embarrassment and with my hands stretched upwards as a punishment. Those were the first impressions and I have to say, using the ink pen wasn't as "awesome" as I thought. However, the relationship with my white ink pen decorated in flowers strengthened as I grew more and more familiar with it. I would write pages after pages in the blue ink, hoping to perfect my writing and avoid smearing ink all over myself. My ink pen was different from others; some of them had rough covers, while others had a big, ugly chunk of steel as the lead. My precious pen was much tinier and much better and easier to work with. The lead of my pen was bend in a peculiar way and you had to tilt it just in the right angle to get the smooth effect. After I wrote something, I would silently watch the ink shine for some time and slowly sink into the tiny fibers of the papers. 
I wouldn't say that the relationship with my ink pen has changed my life entirely. However, it has taught me a few lessons about life and the way to live. You have to wait patiently sometimes for the best results to find their way. If you rush something, it might get destroyed. You have to take it slow, give it some thought, and really hope for the best. Secondly, not everything will go as planned. Not everything will be as smooth as you may imagine it to be. Things can turn out differently than you expect. And during that time, you shouldn't just tear out the paper and shove it in the bin. Instead, you have to learn to work around that blob of ink, find another way to make it work. Then only can you move on in life and really learn to complete the things you have set out to do. Despite these lessons, I lost my silver pen after I left for Woodstock. I have looked for it many times, but all I find are the fragments of lessons and encouragement the soft, silver pen has left for me.