Tale of Two Traveler's Notebooks
Note: At the time of this post, Midori is rebranding Midori's Traveler's Notebook to just Traveler's Notebook. However, I will continue to refer to them in this post as Midori or MTN as that's the branding on my notebooks. Thus, I use MTN and TN interchangeably.
Around the time that I discovered fountain pens, I also came across Midori Traveler's Notebooks. I was fascinated by the many ways that MTN users used their notebooks and the multitude of ways in which the user experience could be customized. I absorbed many blog posts on the subject including Brian Goulet's series of Midori videos. My little guy, then 6 years old watched quite a few of these videos with me so he got to know Brian and Midori quite well.
I discovered that there was a camel-coloured Traveler's Star Edition that was made to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Passport sized TN's. This was well after they were released so the availability of the notebooks and accessories were limited. I loved the camel colour. I also wanted the Star Ferry notebook inserts to use when I go to visit Hong Kong. I managed to cobble together what I wanted between Goulet Pens and Baum-Kuchen.
My little guy wandered into my room while I was unboxing my treasures. The second he saw the MTN, his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "MIDORI!" Somehow he managed to claim my Midori and some refills.
The cute bandit who made off with Midori loot...
After he left my room with the MTN firmly in his clutches, I immediately went online to reorder another Midori Notebook Passport, more accessories, as well as the Essential Passport Leather Zipper case/card holder/wallet and a cute Baum-Kuchen "ideas happen" charm.
My little guy used his Midori for drawing, writing stories and journaling. Whenever we went somewhere, we both brought our Midoris with us. It was fun for us to share something in common.
Sadly, maybe 3 months later, my son's Midori suddenly disappeared. I didn't get a replacement for him because I thought it had to be somewhere either at home or school, grandparents' or at the cottage. I thought it would eventually turn up. Who knew that eventually would turn into 2 years. Meanwhile, I gave him some Fieldnotes to write in or sketchbooks to draw in.
On the other hand, my Midori went everywhere that I went. I experimented with different ways to use the MTN with different configurations of inserts. Over time, the leather cover got soft and supple from daily handling. It took on an aged character that I loved so much.
Two weeks ago I found my little guy's Midori stashed on a high shelf in a storage cabinet in his room. He was there when I found it. We were both dumbfounded. We immediately noticed the difference between his notebook and mine. His still feels stiff and new with much less scratches than mine. He asked me why mine is so soft to the touch. I told him it's because mine received almost 2 more years of daily love and attention than his.
The next morning morning I found him propped with pillows up in bed. He had his Modori in his hands and he told me that he was reading his journal entries that he had wrote before his notebook had gone on hiatus. He really enjoyed reading his thoughts from 2 years ago. I think this says so much about what makes journaling special.
Since we originally got our Midoris around the same time, I thought it would be interesting to see how Midoris age with daily use (left column) vs under "storage" (right column).
I wonder how our Midoris will look in another 2 years? The metamorphosis of a Traveler's Notebook is itself part of the life journey of its owner.