I am Lola-collector-of souvenirs for my Doc Martens boots box

Do you have a little something, a negligible object, a trinket, that you hold dear because it reminds you of somebody or it’s connected to a beautiful memory, an event?

The Trinket of Love Just Because!

Like a souvenir — 

a pebble picked up on a hiking in Bucegi, a piece of marble (pebble size, of course!) from Apollo’s temple in Delphi, a boarding pass to Japan from the very first trip to Australia, the high school emblem, a ticket stub from an art exhibition, the entry ticket to Versailles, a postcard from 1983, a letter from an ancient aunt, a bookmark with a scribble on it, a lost baby shoe found on the street in Singapore, a napkin from a café in Venice where you paid 50 Euros for 2 coffees, a lucky coin — lucky just because you found it on the pavement, and so many more!

There you are 50 years later you fill in a shoe box with these little things (God forbid we get a statue next time from Athens!), and you seriously consider in the near future to hold on to one (or more) of those Doc Martens boots box.

I am closer to 60 than I ever been in my life, and I still collect these little objects and I cherish them. 

I confess I started to get the new type of boxes. The big ones for presents, sturdy and nice coloured, but they can hold souvenirs and brochures. These are the special boxes for our trips - Romania, Greece, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, and I must stop here or this article will be just about that.

During holidays and rainy days we sit on the floor and rummage through our boxes of memories.

However! After a long winded introduction I came up to the point of my article.

One of my latest souvenirs is a pen! 

And this pen is the new kid on the block of my souvenirs! Close to my heart, this is my trinket of Love. My heart goes faster and I sigh deeply when I take it in my hand.

On our trip to Romania I met up with a very dear high school colleague, we haven't seen each other in over 9 years. We spent hours remembering, sharing stories from school, and catching up with about 10 (or twenty!) years worth. When I say hours I mean hours. We must’ve sat in that café for 3 hours and we went to a restaurant and there we sat 3 more hours. The food that we ordered arrived too quickly and even though the steak was as hard as a shoe sole, we did not care. The night came way too fast on us and the time flew painfully. 

In that day it happened that I needed a pen to sign a couple of books, and my friend gave me her pen.

She did not want to take it back and yes, it will be the new resident of my shoe box.

This pen is now my most loved souvenirs! I did not put it in the shoe box, yet! and I use it everyday. It’s a proper pen. The perfect ball point, not too hard on paper and not too slippery, the ink is not running like in those new gel ones, it moulds in my hand with its velvety smooth surface, plus the end is touch screen! What more could you want from a pen?

Each time I use the pen the memory of that day flows to me, and it makes me happy and it fills me with hope to meet again soon. 

This pen and it’s power is now beyond the symbol of a meaningful souvenir. A functional-pleasant-cherished-artwork-souvenir.

Do you agree?

Some places have a way of collecting things as if giving them a new home, and some people too — I am Lola-the-souvenirs-collector for my Doc Martin boots box.

Do you have a little something, an object, a trinket, that you hold dear because it reminds you of somebody or is connected to a beautiful memory?