After having missed out on Pelikan’s Wanderlust project, I feel fortunate to be included in the follow-up Wanderbox project.  Being a starting point for one of the boxes (Box #2) means that I have a full flacon of ink and an empty box waiting to be filled and passed along.  The day that it arrived, I was actually not expecting it and was pleasantly surprised to come home to a big blue box waiting in my mailroom.  It was already adorned with several stickers from far away places, evidence of its prior journey.  Not quite knowing what I would find, I was filled with excitement as I cut the ties that helped to secure its contents.  Upon opening the lid, I found a large round gift box nestled inside of a styrofoam cradle.  The gift box contained a bottle of Edelstein Ink of the Year 2015, Amethyst, as well as some gentle instructions about how to proceed.  The directions were simple;

As the current owner of the Pelikan #Wanderbox, you’ve got the unique chance to join in this project by writing a letter and posting it on your favorite Social Media site(s) with the hashtag #Wanderbox!  Feel free to add a geotag or your current location.  Then place your letter inside the box and pass it on. The next person in this chain should be someone you trust; someone who’s willing to write the next letter.

One could not ask for a clearer set of instructions and yet after re-reading them, I still felt a little lost.  A letter? Of course I knew that I would be writing a letter but about what should I write?  I have had pen pals (though I have been a very poor correspondent as of late) so writing letters was not new to me.  Now that the moment was upon me, I felt uncertain.  My box was empty, without any prior examples to draw from.  It was up to me to set the tone and get this box moving.  And then what?  To whom should I send the box?  How do I pick just one person out of the many great people in this community of writing and fine writing instrument lovers?

After several days of thoughtful reflection on the project, its goals and aspirations, I found my resolve and my inspiration.  These boxes are, after all, about unity and bringing people together from all across the world, people united by a common passion for writing and fine writing instruments.  Introductions were in order.  I pulled out my stationary (Clairefontaine Triomphe) and chose my pen, in this case a Pelikan M605 Marine Blue special edition from 2013 with a wonderfully stubbed broad nib.  Of course the ink was the provided Amethyst, a rich aubergine/purple color.  As I was preparing to write, staring at my blank stationary, I felt the words begin to take shape and was reminded of a quote by the Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov, “The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.”  The words that did become visible, you will find below, finished off with a dollop of melted wax and my personal seal.  With my letter written, the time has come to send the box back into the world, this time across the country to the West Coast of the United States.  I have enjoyed my time as its steward and look forward to following the journey of my box and all of the other boxes online.  If you wish to do the same, follow the #Wanderbox hashtag on the various social media platforms.

Application of My Wax Seal to Conclude the Letter