[Rockhounds] It's Aaron

[Ronald and Patricia Potter-Efron]

Hi, Aaron,   and welcome to the list/group.
My name is Pat and I was an impractical dreamer at nine...although my family 
has pictures of me carrying rocks around as young as two. When I was 9 and 
walking to the school bus stop on a long gravel driveway, I found a stone 
beyond anything I had ever seen. It was half of an oval, with a thin 
carnelian crust, like a tiny geode, with
a cavity and purple crystal in the white quartz crystals that thickened it. 
I still have it. At 12 I visited San Diego (from Minnesota) and my family 
went to the aquarium. I never got past the room full of shells. Never got to 
a fish. My family picked me up two hours later, and met a little old lady 
who had been talking with me about the shells. The next day she brought a 
cigar box full of shells labelled with both Latin and familiar names to my 
cousins' house. After that, whereever I went I picked up rocks and I picked 
up shells that interested me. But I was into language and fiction, and got 
my degrees in English literature. Now I have another degree and have worked 
thirty years as a counselor with people who have problems. I keep my office 
full of rocks and shells and use little geodes to show people how beautiful 
they are, and little shells to show people how strong they are. I have kids 
paint collection boxes, and after every session they get to choose either a 
rock or a shell (depending on what they have decided to collect). The only 
science I ever took was astronomy in college, and as a result I don't 
understand a lot of what people say on this list...but I read up on it, and 
have my tumbler and a local rock club. Because I can find almost any rock 
beautiful or interesting (I pick up fossils too), they are a help in my work 
with both kids and adults--and rocks are my passion at home. Sometimes to 
relax I pick up a basket of rocks to wash in the sink...and it works. And 
the other day a woman volunteering for special olympics called me for a 
contribution and we discovered that she does the same thing--only mostly 
with shells.
   I guess I would say (and my kids would) that I am still a dreamer, and 
easily pleased.I have a great life because I am so grateful for every 
interesting rock and fossil I find. If I had it to do over again, I would 
become some kind of geologist, paleontologist, or crazy explorer. But rocks 
make me happy this way, too..   Pat

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shawn Hendricks" <leinani35 at yahoo.com>
To: <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 7:25 PM
Subject: [Rockhounds] It's Aaron


> Hi group,
> It's me Aaron. My mom Shawn signed us up for this group. I am going to be 
> a geologist, gemologist, paleantologist, or something like that when I 
> grow up. I have a big question, when and how did you become interested in 
> geology and what do you do now that you are grown? I want to see what 
> interesting fields I could get into in the future and what I should 
> prepare for. Also, I do think that whatever I do, digging would have to be 
> a major part of it. Do you have aanything really important that you 
> learned, or some advice that has stuck with you through your years? Anyone 
> wanting to answer please do. I use these emails and such as part of my 
> Language Arts for homeschool as well as my geology study. My mom helps me 
> type cause I'm so slow at it so it may take a bit for me to get back. 
> Thanks
> Aaron Hendricks
>
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