Search the Community

On the 9th October 2012, I lost my best friend. Sufi - a brown and white mongrel, found by my wife abandoned on a building site days after the millenium - passed away after a long debilitating illness. Sufi: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3135/3092571543_dac8151c42_z.jpg?zz=1 Chloe (our younger dog): http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5265/5686954314_e410909894_z.jpg I contacted Jonella at Classic Fountain Pens and after a long exchange with both her and David, I asked for a pen depicting Sufi and Chloe chasing away a crow. This would kill two birds (oh god, a pun!) with one stone - the crow symbolising death, and the chase being one of their favourite shared activities. After a few weeks, a sketch arrived from Nakaya and I quickly gave the go-ahead. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7333/10223660393_165dd3446d_c.jpg Nearly a year later I received an eMail telling me the pen was in California. A week later, it was in my hands. Initially, I could not have been more disappointed, though I couldn't explain why. I put it aside and thought deeply for quite a few days; I spoke to my wife and talked through how upset I was and she made me realise that my expectations had been wildly unrealistic. In some crazy way I had hoped - expected even - that the pen would bring Sufi back, or at least all those little intangibles - her smell, her mannerisms, the feel of her hair, her weight, her mass - that I miss so deeply. I have a very wise wife. And so, over the past week I've been trying to look at the pen with less loaded eyes. As always with Nakaya it is exquisitely crafted; it is also a pen which really captures the soul of both dogs at their best. And it is a beautiful and fitting memorial to a dear lost friend, one who will never return. Funny how acceptance feels a lot like forgetting. Anyway, here it is. I hope you like it. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3707/10223561075_d8c85a3f7b_z.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3738/10223576916_2ac75646f2_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/10223480144_6188c9498d_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7350/10223664523_7a22a9d012_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8255/10223664853_9b772d54e8_z.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5477/10223561735_23c1fbebb1_z.jpg