I've been a member of AAPG for 30 years

The other day I received this certificate of appreciation in the mail.

Quite frankly I was surprised to get it.  It shows that I've been a member for 30 years. (I'm glad they are keeping track because I sure wasn't). To me I was always the one that was appreciative to be a member and it should be the other way around.  I loved the way it kept me in touch with Geology all these years.  After I had children, I got out of geology to be a bookkeeper so I could work out of the house & have more time with them.  My dream always was to get back into petroleum geology one day and so I kept my membership going.  I looked forward to getting the magazines every month.  I especially liked getting the AAPG Explorer.  I still have a child in middle school so I haven't gotten back into geology yet, but who knows maybe someday I will.

  I went to put it up with my other certificates that I've received over the years.  I started to think about some of them and how proud I was to get them.  How some of them mean so much to me while others are just a piece of paper I hardly care about or remember.  If I ever get around to framing some of them these are the ones I will frame.  I must admit I already have one framed and that is my Masters of Science.
NB: I had to remove these because of the people trying to use them for the wrong purposes - and it showing up on other sites. 

The most recent one when I went hot air ballooning.  (I've decided to just go ahead and remove all of the certificates since they are being posted as images somewhere else without my approval.) This was so much fun to get - see here balloon-ride-in-arizona    , & hot-air-balloon-ride-10-31-10..  

 The most important ones.
My first degree from Ohio U.  This was reaching the most important goal I ever had in my life - to get a college degree in science!!. (I've removed this degree - I thought if I just included part it would get the message across.- I was getting too many hits on the image of it and also the next degree - I worked to hard to get these - and want to make sure people do the work to get them too.)-
 The next is my Accounting clerk degree.

   I saw this one and it made me think about misspelling things on official documents.  Isn't it great to know I'm an Arrount Clerk verses an Account Clerk. I'm so tempted to make a couple of snark remarks but I'll refrain, - I'll let you have that honor. In the meanwhile I wrote another blog post about my pet peeve - here ..

  The next one I was really proud to get, because by having it I was able to go offshore.  To me working offshore was such a pinnacle to reach - Because offshore wells and platforms were so incredibly expensive, it seemed like only the brightest and the best were working in the offshore division.  It was a privileged to be working with these people. (I've removed this one too - no hits on the image but still it was a lot of hard work and I don't want anyone copying it too.)

The next one, was also such an honor to get.  It represented hours and hours of volunteer work trying to improve the school my children were going to.  At this particular school they only gave out one of these awards a year to a parent that they thought had done the most for the school.  You couldn't get anything higher than this.

 But life hasn't always been about all work and no fun.  I do like to have fun.  There have been times when I've done things I've wished they'd given me a certificate but they haven't.  Things like when I climbed to the top of Seneca rocks, or went white water rafting.
  The next one is one thing I had always dreamed about doing and was so glad to be able to do it.  Now that I have access to some images I didn't have before I can share this experience too with you.  I went sky diving and here's the proof. (I had to remove this image due to someone copying it )
   NB: when they sign these certificates it goes into a log book and there is witness ID #'s that they use so no one can forge these documents- at least that was the way it was done when I did it way back when.  I stopped doing it after I had children so don't know how they do it now.
Here I am, all suited up and ready to go.  It was my Christmas day gift, 1981.  I did it in the Houston Texas area.

 Here's what the group of us looked like falling from the sky.  Can't see much I know - just a couple of specks in the sky.

 So you know which one was me, I've cropped it so you only see me.

 I was a lot lighter than the others and also my chute was circular/bigger so I came done slower than the others.  Here's the others landing first.

 And now me.  Because I was up in the air longer and because I didn't have a very controllable chute I drifted the farthest away from our planned landing spot. 

I was so glad I finally did that and could check it off my list of things to do in my life.  I would have gone more except it was so very expensive to do.  Also if you make a hobby of it you can't get life insurance, at least you couldn't back then.

The one certificate that was the first one I got, and I was so proud to get, I can't find.  I'm sure it is tucked away somewhere in my attic in some remote location that I'm just not willing to go look for since it is so hot. It is one I know I would never get rid of.  That certificate was when I was a senior high school I got my water life savings training.  That certificate got me my first real job as being a life guard at an indoor pool.  I held that job for three years and it was a great job to have since it was right across from where I first went to college.  It's given me a love of swimming all of my life.  

Muse thought: I just wish framing wasn't so expensive, now I should look and wait for the frame sales at the local stores.
Another thought: I wonder what certificate I should go for next?
And my final muse: Make sure whenever you get an official certificate they spell things right on it.  As you can see from my pet peeve post and this post they do misspell things on these certificates.