A story about my fountain pen
This is a story about a Parker Vector fountain pen that my parents got me when I first went to school. That must have been around the year 1998. My parents thought that I needed to have a good quality pen so that learning to write would be comfortable for me. I remember that it was a big expense for my parents at the time, and I treasured that pen as a kid. So much so that I remember taking it with me on every school or lunch break to make sure it never got stolen or lost. I loved writing with a fountain pen.
Since primary school, I have used this same pen in all the stages of my education that followed: junior high school (PL: gimnazjum), high school (PL: liceum), college (PL: studia), and, finally, graduate school (PL: doktorat). It is remarkable for me to think that with this pen I learned how to write, I solved my early algebra exercises, I studied trigonometry, polynomials, and electromagnetism, I wrote my high school examinations (PL: matura), I solved my calculus problems and designed reinforced concrete slabs, and I took notes on fluid dynamics and machine learning. That pen remembers the whole journey through my education. And it works to this day, even though the right tine of the nib is visibly worn down compared to the left one (I’m right-handed). The tip of the nib has bent just right for the way I enjoy writing. The cap accidentally cracked sometime in high school, I think. Since then, I’ve been using a couple of layers of duct tape to make it still fit tightly. I still love writing with a fountain pen.
On 17 April, 2023, the day of my graduation from a Ph.D. program, my family got me a new Parker Sonnet fountain pen as a graduation gift. They didn’t know that I still had the old one! I think it turned out to be a wonderful gift to commemorate the end of my entire education cycle, from elementary school to becoming a doctor of engineering. I decided to retire my old Parker Vector pen. Now that my education is over, it feels right to have a new pen for whatever comes next.
