PENTEL ENERGEL STYLE GEL PEN, (0.7MM) MEDIUM LINE, NAVY

In a Paris café, surrounded by people speaking a language I could only understand in short, slow bursts, I sat with a notebook and jotted down bits of wisdom, things I was grateful for, and half a page of stream of consciousness about where I was, what I was feeling, and who I thought it made me. Sitting alone in a foreign country can be intimidating. But holding one of these pens, gliding it across the page, seeing the glisten of the ink—it’s comforting. It feels like I’m doing something ancient and grand and beautiful. Because I am.

I prefer the Navy Blue version, and I get Pentel’s blue ink cartridges for it. There are other colors of both pen and ink. But for me, this blue is the color of my inner sky and my sense of personal peace.