The First Step to Recovery

--Posted by Tom, Goldspot Pens' Blog Editor "Hello everyone, my name is Tom," I speak sheepishly as my hands tightly clutch the podium edges. The roomful of strange, yet friendly faces respond, "Hello, Tom." I take a deep breath, swallow my pride and part my lips: "I have a problem...with pens." My first "fine pen" was an older-style Parker Sonnet Matte Black w/ Chrome Trim ballpoint that my then girlfriend gave to me as a present. If you want to go further back in time, my first nice pen that I remember owning was a Pilot Dr. Grip back in middle school. A few of my classmates heckled me roundly for spending $7 on a pen. One day, I let the pen out of my site and they lifted it from my bookbag, tore apart the soft, ergonomic grip and stuffed it into classroom radiator. A few years ago, I started working in the fine-writing industry, where I have had the chance to nurture my pen philanthropy. With literally thousands of pens in our company's stockroom, it is hard for a pen addict to resist not buying a pen every working day. As any good addict does, I have built a system to enable my collection to grow. I'm going to let you in on my pen-buying rationale because I have a dilemma I may need to "crowd-source" to solve. Pens are more sentimental if they are given or purchased at a special moment in one's life. My buying patterns are based around significant achievements in my life, almost like an award of accomplishment. Last year, I purchased a Pelikan M215 that coincided with me getting married. For completing the third catalog last year, I bought a Levenger True Writer Demonstrator. I signed my first-ever car lease, which I negotiated the heck out of, with a True Writer Starry Night fountain pen. Now, I have till about the 2nd week of August to figure out the next one: Me and my wife are having a baby girl. The idea is that I purchase the pen of exceptional quality and use it for the time being and keep it until my girl has graduated high-school. Then it will be cleaned out, fixed up and gifted to her. So far, I have determined that it has to be more expensive than the Pelikan M215. It has to be a fountain pen, preferably a piston-filler in fine point. I can't break the bank on this, so there will be no $500 and above pens floating in my head. As far as colors go, I'm going to be using it, and my kid is not going to know what color she likes for a while, so I may go with what I like, which is blue. I am totally open to our reader's suggestions. If you want to ask additional questions, comment on the post and I will provide further details. I do have to say this : there is no prize if I end up picking your suggestion. Just knowing that you assisted a fellow pen peer should be reward enough. Thanks, Tom.