As I reviewed some old blog posts the other day, it hit me that: 1) I never wrote a post about the 2020 Baltimore Pen Show and 2) that it’s been over a year since my last pen show, and I really miss them!
I’m well aware that I’m incredibly privileged to live near two pen shows, BWIPS and DC. While BWIPS will always be my favorite, both are tons of fun, dangerous for the budget, and an opportunity to see pen peeps.
And that camaraderie, that sense of community, is part of what I miss so much. I can buy pens — for the most part — at any time, but I can’t see people. Video calls, while nice, are not the same. Especially in an analog hobby, so much gets lost in a digital “meeting.”
Pen meetups have been digitized for up to a year now, for most of us. And I don’t know about you, but I’m “zoomed out.” I was “zoomed out” about 7-8 months ago. So whereas I had only missed one in-person meetup in over a year before COVID, I haven’t attended a digital meetup since… probably June, maybe July. I need to make sure I join one of those soon, I keep forgetting. And I miss my local pen peeps.
But there’s hope. Vaccines are being administered, and regulations are evolving in response. I’m hopeful that we’ll have the DC pen show to attend in August. It’s officially scheduled; I hope it doesn’t need to get cancelled.
Somehow, even with the light clearly visible at the end of the tunnel, I miss in-person events more than ever.
Keep your fingers crossed, wish upon stars, and make sacrifices to the pen gods that things are normal enough soon to resume pen shows and meetups.
