Last week my youngest sibling moved away from home for university (college for you, Americans!). How long he’s away for…purely depends on if he’s able to score that 5% more on the mandatory 50% in his first semester. <insert evil laugh which only older siblings can do> Anyway so he’ll be away for some 3-4 years and because it is such a momentous time in a boy’s life; moving out of home, university, new place, new friends et al. It is only proper that a going-away present is due.

Now I’m a presents-person. I love the whole choosing of a perfect present, getting the wrapping right, topped-off with a nice card reflecting my precise sentiments (I usually get blank cards and fill it in. Yes, I’m lame like that). And 99.9% of the time, my presents are bang-on. And nothing makes me more happier than seeing my people happy. Howeverrrr…in this one instance I was in a dilemma. I thought about the traditional Parker© pen with engraved initials but quickly dismissed it. He probably wouldn’t even use it. I thought about what else he could need? And everything I could come up with, he already had unless I was going to buy him an upgraded version of his gadgets. But I didn’t really want to be buying a gadget as a going-away present. They only last as long as they do. I wanted give something…timeless. But what do you give a college student in 2014 that has a sentimental value and is not archaic?

Hence I put pen to paper and wrote him a few words in the hope that in lieu of a materialistic present, I was passing on something more special.

And as always, I was confident that I had once again banged it on with this present as well. Nothing could have been more perfect. I tried not to ball my eyes out at the airport when I said goodbye. Driving back home, I imagined him settling in his new room, arranging his furniture and pinning up my precious present of wise words in front of his study table to guide him through his dark hours. That warmed my tiny heart and made me smile.

It wasn’t till a couple of hours later when I went to restart the broadband when I saw this. My precious scroll of wisdom lying on the computer table. Surrounded by gadgets and his other junk. There. How I felt at that moment? I’ll leave that you for to contemplate. Of course, he forgot it there. We were getting late for the airport. The only question I need to answer is; Had the present been the latest Android tablet, would it have been forgotten also?

And that is the mighty end of the pen. It’s too archaic to attach any sentimental value to and wrap it as a present and anything of value that you can produce out of it, is filling in your airport departure forms or perhaps signing your will leaving your hard-earned pennies to your offsprings. But seriously don’t bother using it anymore to write about your feelings or to pass on your knowledge or to convey a I-love-you. Just post a ‘♥’ on someone’s wall and they’ll ‘(Y)’ it to let you know that they too, care. For any other sort of messaging-conveying or ranting, you can always start a blog!