Scriptus 2023

Literally everyone but any of the Chans looking at the camera.

We made it to Scriptus and back, what a relief. It did look a little dubious for a while there.

It was a great day, as usual. Me and the kids hitched a ride from Sean. I spilled my coffee and it was a disaster that lingered into the following week. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. (Neither does Jon.)

It filled my cup to meet so many people, some of you for the first time in person. After years of quarantine and isolation and “apart together” and “alone but in it together” and whatever other vague platitudes we suffered through, to pick up those threads again is a gift. With some of you, it seems like every year I’m folding into a once-yearly conversation, catching up about children and cats and jobs and new favourite fountain pens and how the world has whirled about.

More than ever, I’m grateful for our team, everyone holding down their various forts, taking pictures, entertaining children. Some of you know some of our team members well, and how much fun is it to be a witness to your friendships with your favourite pen shop clerks.

How wild to think of our first pen show, our first years in business, to see what the kids look forward to, what the kids remember. Time does wild things do you. What a thrill! To now have customers who have been walking through our doors for up to a decade! To have walked through so many of our various doors. I’m just trying to hold on for the ride.

We were happy to be beside Matthew and his nib grinding.

The original Mystery Pen Surprise sign. After all this time, I think the Mystery Pen Surprises are one of my favourite things that we carry. It’s one of my favourite things to put together in the shop, a very satisfying task, and everyone can enjoy a bunch of low-commitment pens.

We got a stamp to celebrate ten years in business. It’s available in the shop if you stop by. And Naomi was part of our assembly line at the start of the show, stamping postcards for any interested takers.

The wonder kids had their little low-effort bracelet display, and a few customers of their own.

What a great year. It’s always a great year! It’s always busy and rushed and Jon is hunting down the debit machine, digging deep into piles of packing materials in the warehouse, Brendan sitting at the shipping station, saying “it’s definitely not underneath the bubble mailers.” But we find the debit machine, we check things off the lists, we schlep it all there, and we spend one glorious day, surrounded by pen nuts.