Oh my lantus! A post???

Sometimes I get really anal about things. 

Like pens.

I have a spiffy fountain pen tucked away that I only use when I am writing letters to Jenna or writing a card or note to someone. I love it. I love a good pen.  

I carry a pencil and pen in my pocket at work. The pencil for notes on my patients when I chat with them and the pen for writing orders. I've lost pens before and you'd think the secretaries would have a plethora of pens floating around...but they don't. So usually I spend 10 minutes aimlessly wondering the floor looking for an orphan pen for me to snatch up. Usually I don't find one and so I begrudgingly retreat to my office to find one. 

Most of the pens I have at work are cheap, dinky ones that constantly stop working so I have to find scrap paper to scribble on or I put it down and lose it. You know how it goes.

But. One day on a hunt for a pen I found one that I fell in love with. 

It's needle point. It writes smoothly. It's been broken it. It clicks. It slides perfectly into my pocket. It's a pen-lover's delight.

 I thought for sure it was a doctor's pen and as I was writing some orders, I was waiting for someone to ask who stole their pen. No one did so I stuck it in my pocket. (Insert creepy LOTR Smeagol/Golum voice here). Now it's mine! My precious. Hey now, a good pen is hard to come by these days. I feel a little extra spiffy now when I whip it out to write an order. (Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a doctor writing an all-important order. Mostly I'm just writing an order for a Boost milkshake as opposed to some fancy medicine regimen. It's the little things that make my job bearable enjoyable)

So today.

I've been in a rather irritated mood lately. We're short-staffed at work still and I'm getting blimey burnt out. I know, boo hoo. Anyway, I'm setting the stage here. I was in the middle of charting on a patient when I regrettably glanced up and locked eyes with a man walking towards the nurses' station and could see it on his lips that he was about to ask a question. Never mind that there are only 12 other people around but since I was the unlucky one to make eye contact, he approached me. Dang it. I tried to pretend like I didn't notice him approaching me, but knowing this is impolite and mean, I put on a smile, looked up and asked if I could help him. He was in the middle of writing something...something about transfer paperwork...and his pen died. So I thought, anything to help expedite a patient's discharge, and began frantically searching for a pen. Of course I couldn't find one so I hesitantly handed him my beloved pen. I was about to tell him to remember to bring it back but for whatever reason, I didn't. I think I was internally petrified that I was handing over my a) beloved pen when I b) had to write an order in a second. 

I'm pretty sure I looked like this.

Photo from here

So I watched him walk away with my pen and then the irritation kicked in. So I typed and waited for him to come back because he knew I had only lent it to him...right? RIGHT?? I waited a few more minutes. I looked through a chart. I got more irritated because I had a billion patients to see and I just needed my blasted pen back so I could write orders and get on with it. I waited a few more minutes. 

No sign of the alleged pen-borrower (aka THIEF!).

My irritation hit its threshold and then I thought maybe I was being a little ridiculous. All of this over...a pen. 

Butnotjustanypen!!!! It's my favorite pen! At this point I was so annoyed with the entire stupid situation, both me being so irritated and making such a big deal but not letting it go, that I thought who cares: I. Want. My. Pen. And I will get it. So I did what any irrational, ridiculous pen-lover would do and I found the thief pen-borrower. I told him that I needed my pen to write some orders (true) and that if he needed me to find him another pen that I would. He asked if I would. FOR THE LOVE. So, I went to my office and grabbed a dinky pen, shoved it in my pocket, returned and traded.

HA. 
Oh and, in case you're wondering, he was not working on transfer paperwork. That little...

Oh well! I got my pen.

Am I ridiculous? Perhaps. 

Was this ridiculous? Perhaps.

Do I care? No. Why? Because I got my pen!!! 

 Lesson learned: avoid making eye contact with people when I am charting at the nurses' station lest they try to bum your fancy pen off you with no intention of returning it. Punk.