If you were looking for some sort of confessional, you had better move on. I just have rediscovered an old habit and have really enjoyed falling back into it again and wanted to clue you in; the faithful lot here at the Darkroom. To make a short story a tad bit shorter, I'll cut to the chase and just shoot you straight: I have started carrying a pocket knife again. I took a hiatus; pretty close to a decade hiatus. I quit for a reason, but now I can't quite remember why I really stopped. I guess I thought carrying a small pocket knife was for a certain type of person and I wasn't going to be that type, but that was also when I thought I knew a few things. Now I would pick the habit back up for a hiking or canoe trip, but then put it back up once the adventure was over. No, not a Bowie knife or some crazy switchblade straight out of Harlem or Compton. Just a simple one function knife. I know they sell those behemoths that have something like 73 functions, but I've never used all of them. I'm a pretty simple guy and a simple knife fits all my needs. I just found myself running into at least one situation every day where I'd think to myself that I wish I had a knife and one day I finally pulled out the drawer of my bedside table and found the little knife and put it in my pocket as I headed to work.
The knife isn't fancy either. It's just one of the base models that Kershaw puts out. I like Kershaw knives. They're an American company and even go as far as to make a few of their knives in America. There are several great knife companies out there right now and I own a few of their products that I've gathered over the years, but over the last several years, I've really felt the need to support American companies that are bringing work back here. It's a risk and they should be rewarded. Kershaw is one of those companies and I've been a big fan of their knives since I bought my first one over the Wal-Mart counter in Ft. Payne, Alabama in 2004. The model I'm carrying now isn't that knife, but one I purchased back in 2006. It isn't made in America. Maybe, I'll move up to that one, but we're taking things slower these days.
And the knife is special. It was the knife I gave to all my groomsmen the night before I married my Sweet Melissa. That is a nice thought to have as I feel it in my pocket and use it throughout the day. I guess that's how knives are for me when I really get to thinking about them. Maybe that's part of why I'm so glad about stumbling into carrying one again. My granddad carried a knife. I've got a few of his old ones. I'll never carry them, but I look at them from time to time. It is odd thing to hold an item that you remember someone who has passed away using. It is as if you get to jolt yourself back for a small moment. My dad carries a small knife and I believe his father does as well. It's a nice thing to follow in the line of something like that. It makes me feel as if my meager actions in that quiet time before the sun rises as I approach my day are no longer just a routine, but rather a ritual and the hands I stuff the knife into my pocket with are the hands of my father's and his father's and the actions are those of the men who've come before me who also sat in that brief time when all thoughts are calm and the sun is making its slow rise and the dew is laying softly and all the day is spread before you and you leave knowing that today is the day to make it count.
Happy reading,
DAVID
