Greetings fellow CONCHER'S,
 
                                             I started collecting shortly
after my parents returned from a trip to Hawaii (without the 7 kids, I wonder
why)? They brought every kid a present. Some got T-shirts, others got wood
carvings, I got a small basket of shells. I was jealous. " My parents went to
Hawaii and all I got were these lousy shells ." I took the shells to my room
and tossed them aside without a second thought. Weeks later I was cleaning my
room ( NOT by choice) and discovered the basket under the dresser. I opened
them and dumped them out on the floor. As I picked up each shell and studied
their shapes and colors my interest grow more and more. That Christmas my
parents bought me a small pocketbook on shells of the world. I devoured it.
From then on I was hooked on collecting. Every trip to the beach (Oregon
Coast) was spent face down in tidepools, poking at seaweed, and with genuine
determination turning rocks much larger than me. Now 26 years later I can
still remember (and saved) the first shells I received. I look forward to the
next 26 years to come. I still thank my parents and have forgiven them for
thier trip to Hawaii.
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/5/98 7:26:45 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
 
<< Hey All
       Just to combat my extreme boredom ( even though I should be studying
but
 I'm not) I am just randomly going to ask a question. How did everyone get
into
 shells, Collecting, Malacology etc.
 
      Ok I guess I'll start. When I was about 4 my parents  took my older
 brother and I to a nature center in  Deleware. They had this Busycon Carica (
 which I was told was a Conch... what can ye do when yer 4) in a touch tank
 there. The naturalist was telling my parents about horseshoe crabs and my
 brother was extremly interested in that. I was ignoring them and was just
 fascinated by this snail. I was hooked from then on. Later in that vacation
 week we went into a shell store to get my brother a hermit crab ( which only
 lived about 4 days after we went home) I found the shells in various bins
 there and was in heaven! My 'rents got me a whelk because it was what I
 wanted( no hermit crabs for me LOL)  It was my first shell and I still have
it
 on my dresser. From then on whenever we went to the beach I was always on the
 look out for shells. To me it wasn't about the shells as much as it was about
 the animal. I wanted to find another whelk that was alive.  I never wanted to
 keep it, I just wanted to see it. I don't know what it was but something
about
 this slimey creature fascinated me.  When I was 8  I picked up my first shell
 book.. Kingdom of the Seashell by R. Tucker Abbott. Since then I read just
 about anything I can get my hands on that is about shells, snails and
 mollusks.
   Since about the 8th grade I knew I wanted to be a malacologist. I am now a
 sophomore in college and I want it more than ever. Someone once told me "
Find
 something you love and figure out a way to get paid for it." I have the first
 part done.      My eventual goal is to be a professor ( I don't do High
 School!!!!!!)  and share this fantastic science with people. It has such a
 human aspect. People go to the beach and they find shells. When you ask them
 about the shell most don't have a clue where it comes from. I want to educate
 to people about them.
   I used to teach a science camp for kids. I did a week long unit on shells.
 My first question was " where do shells come from" Kids all have their own
 ideas and its fun to see the creativity flowing in their blood. Most of them
 eventually answered  that shells come from Hermit Crabs. At the end of that
 week most of the kids were able to tell you ( in kid terms) that shells came
 from animals called mollusks. I got some pretty funny little explanations how
 shells were made but they have the basic idea. I know that I taught those
kids
 something that they will probably keep in the back of their minds for life.
 Pardon the random aspect of this but there is nothing on TV( including the
 weather channel and MTV ), I have no life, and all my friends just went back
 to school. I think I will go study now. Nah, I'm goin to bed ( how bad is
that
 10:30 on a saturday night)
 
 
 Sarah ___@'
 Silver Spring MD USA
 http://www.geocities.com/Southbeach/Tidepool/8845
  >>