Fisher Space Pens

I have two Fisher Space Pens. One is a Star Wars pen, purchased at the Air and Space Museum back when I was a volunteer at the Star Wars exhibit there. I love that pen. It was brilliantly designed to resemble something that an Imperial officer would have sticking out of a uniform shirt pocket. Really, really cool.

The other Fisher I have also came from the the Air and Space Museum. It's a "bullet" pen that my mom bought for me on a visit to Washington, DC in 1974, shortly before Nixon left the White House and we relocated from New Jersey to Illinois. Mom and I toured DC while my father was at meetings at the Pentagon.

I love that little bullet pen. It reminds me of my mom, her transference to me of love of flight and space exploration and science, and it still looks brand new, 30+ years later. I still have the little blue Smithsonian box it came in. And it works like a dream. Best damn souvenir ever. It's cooler than the Star Wars pen because my mom bought it for me.

That morning, back in 1974, we saw Nixon getting into Marine One on the White House lawn. I waved at him. He waved back. Really vivid memory - man, you could get really damn close to the Prez back then, come to think of it. Different time, different country, eh? Later that day, mom got a parking ticket on Connecticut Avenue, in front of the National Zoo (we went to see the pandas), and I got to hear her swear for the first time and learned just how much she loathed Washington, DC.

Scored a great pen, saw pandas, saw Nixon (I would see him again in Moscow, years later, shortly before he died), and heard Mom swear. What a day.

Everyone should have a Fisher Space Pen, by the way. They rock.