When I was little, I realized very quickly that my mother had a pen addiction. She would keep about 20 of them in her purse, she had a whole box of pens and even a couple of Ziploc bags full. My sister and I would constantly tease her about being a “pen freak,” but then I began to realize how bad her obsession had rubbed off on me once I got to college.
When I was in high school, about 98% of my classes required me to write in pen; except for math because math teachers think doing math in pen is a sin. So it took a lot of adjusting because the entire time I was in school I wrote in pencil and liked it because I could erase mistakes.
As high school continued on, I began to secretly become a pen snatcher. Not because it was required of me to write with them, but because I was scared that if I came to class without one that was not legible, my teachers would kill me. I would borrow a classmate’s pen and then never return it. About a week later, they would see me with their pen and try to retrieve it but I never would return it.via Giphy
So finally college comes around, and of course as a dumb freshman, I made a supply list of “things” I needed to make the best vibrant, color-coded notes I had seen on Pinterest. I brought an assortment of pens – some felt, gel and ballpoint. It made no sense at all how many pens I had acquired in one shopping trip. It was so sick that I honestly had no room on my desk to hold all of the pens I purchased.
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As time went on, the idea of creating “color-coded notes” went out the window because if you think you can keep up with instructors and who flip powerpoints 5 seconds per slide, you are wrong. I just realized that this was the excuse behind my pen addiction.
When I went home for breaks, my mother and I would discuss the pens we had collected. She would steal some from me and I would steal some from her – that’s just how our exchange went. It felt as if we had our pen collectors club.
I found myself searching for special pens on Amazon to buy. I would literally walk down the supply aisles at Walmart and Target just to see what type of pens they had. I was really deep in, and sadly I still am.via Giphy
On average, I think I have collected about 150 pens since freshman year, which takes up a medium sized ziploc bag and every supply holder on my desk.
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Everywhere I go, I take a pen. I probably have a pen from every department here at Mason even though I’m a student in the College of Health and Human Services.
And I’m still a pen thief swiping pens on a daily basis, one student at a time.
So thanks mom for making a pen freak. I honestly wouldn’t have gotten here without you.