[meteorite-list] 10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Own A Meteorite!

Tue Jan 8 11:03:24 EST 2008

Rhonda wrote:

"I'm not sure you have to have a metorite in your
posession to be in love with metorites ... want
the first one to be special and I can't figure out what
exactly it should be."

Dear Rhonda and List friends,

This was one topic that was (for me) really not meteorite related at all, 
that is, until this thoughtful post.  No one asks why there are so few women 
coin collectors, train spotters, or chess players, yet so many women 
beachcombers, molecular biologists, and knitters... Nor where are the 
sub-Saharan African or Asian mainland collectors ...

...but what you said is universal.  To some degree most appreciative owners 
of meteorites start out and still remember if they are fortunate (and most 
do: to the point of reveling in the romance of that memory).  I hope you 
won't mind if I call you a meteorite maiden in the most beautiful moment of 
ageless enthusiasm.  There is nothing wrong with never having a meteorite 
until the time is right.   I'd like to share my experience with this:

The first meteorite IS just like the first kiss - special, elevating, and a 
unique moment of happiness to be treasured forever.  My first time was from 
an aging hunter who placed it in my trembling and hands as he said: "This is 
a meteorite.  This is the fusion crust, this is the interior and these are 
chondrules, and I picked this up after I heard it falling from the night sky 
many kilometers away."  He also had a moldavite which he told me: "this, too 
is a meteorite, but it is made of glass."  I took it in my sweaty hands and 
tried to hide my emotions, but I couldn't.  We met in a cafe and one by one 
he unwrapped and showed me his space treasures and I handed them back after 
embarrassingly long gazes into these rocks which, could really have been 
anything, but this was an honest person and still as enthusiastic as the day 
he began over 30 years before.  That's when he picked up the fresh and rare 
specimen shortly after its fall.

I still remember I was so impressed that when two pieces were backed up in 
this wondrous show and tell, I refused a third, just to take care that he 
would know that I was careful and that none of his meteorites would get 
misplaced or walk away and assure him I was respectful of unearthly 
collection.  I remember how he handled these briskly enough to make me 
nervious that something terrible should befall them, yet I was so concerned 
should the most minor spec get separated from one.  My favorites were two: 
The moldavite, and the one he picked up freshly fallen.

I dawdled longest with my prolonged staring at these, trying to look 
intelligent, but blissfully ignorant and just unable to fathom how fortunate 
I was to be sitting in his company in that cafe with his space treasures and 
stories wrapped in newspapers pulled out of a little bag.  As I handed the 
exquisitly sculpted moldavite back (which, incidentally had been a gift from 
Mr. DuPont), I paused just a little bit longer to get the chondrite he found 
in the right light for a last goodbye, and then the moment came to surrender 
it, tenderly cupped in my hand.  My "mentor", a man who I had never met 
before and had just invited out for coffee closed my hand around the tiny 
specimen and said he would very much like that I kept it, and thanked me 
profusely for the cup of coffee and slice of cake.

I could not believe this and at first I couldn't accept something so special 
but the more he insisted the more inside myself this warm feeling welled up 
inside as I realized I was actually going to take home this incredible 
miracle that was kin to what I spent years looking at in the night skies 
yearning with my father, at a very young age.

If you saw the animated movie Ratatouille - it was the moment that the Peter 
O'Toole restaurant critic character first tasted his vegetables!  He finally 
learned what the best chef in France truly meant when he said "Anyone can 
cook".  Not that just anyone could prepare food (as he first thought and 
angrily objected) ... but rather that cooking was not restricted to any 
group regardless of appearances.  The "anyone" was anyone who could dig deep 
into his heart and find their inner love for what cooking represents and how 
it can be enjoyed.

So after my own foray down meteorite lane, I'd couldn't recommend any 
"first" meteorite - no, that's not the route.  The bestest first meteorite 
will be the one that you are given (please don't buy it from eBay - though 
that's a great place for those who've been around the block more than a few 
times), and if you are lucky it will be from a friend or loved one who you 
appreciate.  That decision can be made on their own with you in mind, and 
subject totally to chance encounters.  That will turn your piece more 
beautiful than the finest diamond.  I would not trade my first one gram 
meteorite for its weight in brilliant diamond ... (which is 5 carats).  It 
truly is priceless!

Best wishes and Great Health,
Doug

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rhonda Rose" <rhondakrose at yahoo.com>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 10:26 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Own A 
Meteorite!

> Hey Ruben:
>
> I'm not sure you have to have a metorite in your
> posession to be in love with metorites.  I've been on
> this list for I think about 1-1/2 years and just
> haven't taken the step to get the first one for 2
> reasons.  #1- once I get the first I'll be bit big
> time and I won't be able to stop myself.  But mostly
> #2 - I want the first one to be special and I can't
> figure out what exactly it should be.  I even thought
> about asking it as a post -i.e., if you could choose
> what your first metorite would be, what would you go
> for, but thought that was too pedestrian for you guys.
>
> I've learned from the meteor-wrong discussions,
> hunting expedition posts, cube info, comet and planet
> discussions, etc, etc, etc.  I've enjoyed so much of
> the community activities from how you all responded to
> Walter's accident, the Greensburg Tornado, the Tuscon
> get-togethers, the Rocks from Space pictures are
> AWESOME!!!!  I've read almost every single post from
> Ron Baalke since I joined the list, they are so
> imformative.
>
> So, I must love metorities to be reading all this
> considering some of the bickering is past obnoxious
> and the fact that the literal rock scientist level of
> knowledge of many people on this list is HIGHLY
> INTIMIDATING.
>
> Anyway, add one more female to the list of people who
> love meteorites - even though I don't think I have one
> in my possession.
>
> Rhonda Rose
>
>
> --- Ruben Garcia <meteoritemall at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>  snip  >>
>
> However, if she really liked them she
>> would have even one in her rock collection.
>> She only likes them because I do.....and it is
>> something we can talk about.
>>
>> Where are all the women that like meteorites just
>> because they are meteorites? Lets see, Anne, Maria,
>> and 3 or 4 more!  That's it..
>
>>
>> Ruben Garcia
>> Phoenix, Arizona
>> http://www.mr-meteorite.com
>>
>>
>
>
> 
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