Monday 19 August 2019

Yes I have had it a long time

Tonight I called at the stationers to buy a new refill for my ball point pen. 
The very young assistant looked at the pen and said "have you had that a long time?"
Thinking "long before you were a gleam in your father's eye", I meekly answered "yes".
"A very long time", he said.
"Persistent fellow isn't he" I thought and told him "I received this as a gift for my 21st birthday."
"Is it engraved" he asked?
"No" says I.
"Well how do you remember then?" was his reply.
Cheeky fellow!!!   But in this pen lies a story.

On the grand occasion of my 21st birthday, Father was overseas on a business trip, Older Brother was out for the evening, Younger brother was living away from home working and Sister was at Church Girls Club so Mother and I sat on the sofa in our dining room and ate fish and chips from the newspaper wrapping and drank lemonade.    It was truly a non-event.   But I consoled myself with the thought that when Father got home he would arrange a restaurant dinner similar to the celebration we had had for Older Brother's 21st.   Father came home 2 or 3 days later and life went on.   A week or two went by and no mention of my birthday celebration; indeed, no present.   So I asked Father when I could expect my 21st and his response was that it was all past now so not worth arranging the dinner but he would ensure I received a suitable gift.   And a couple of months later after a further overseas trip he came home with a Parker Fountain Pen and Ballpoint Boxed Set purchased from the duty free store.  (I know that because the wrapping paper said so).   So I need no engraving to remember the saga of my 21st birthday;-)

Father had a habit of forgetting my birthday.   He did it again several years later when visiting me while I was living in Japan.   On that occasion he remembered the next day and was duly mortified - to the extent he gave me a substantial amount of Japanese Yen telling me to buy myself something.   I cannot remember what I bought but I can guarantee it wasn't a pen !

4 comments:

Leonore Winterer said...

Oh my. I vote you take your mum out to a nice dinner sometime soon to celebrate the re-surfacing of this story, haha :D
I think the oldest pen I distinctly remember getting is 11 years old now. It's an advertisment ballpen for my now FIL's company and I wrote every single one of my exams with it. They all turned out well, so it's my lucky pen!

Margaret said...

What a good idea. We might just go out in the weekend but for something better than fish and chips:-) May your lucky pen continue to work its magic.

Sandy said...

Cool you have your pen all these years later. I remember my 21st, I think we all do. Though I suspect for the new younger generations it has far less meaning. They all travel to Europe when they're young, have computers, cell phones, new cars constantly etc. They have so much more material things turning 21...being declared an adult by society then (now many are still living at home into their 3o's) was very special.

Margaret said...

How right you are. The significance of the 21st birthday seems much less now that it was back in the day. It does seem a long time ago though :-(