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3900 Marbles, Or Less
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The older I get, the more
I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet
solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or
maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at
work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday
morning are most enjoyable.
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with
a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning
paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday
morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems
to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:
I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band
on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning
swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding
chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You
know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the
broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was
talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was
intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say
"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your
job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you
have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard
to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or
seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you
missed your daughter's "dance recital" he continued.
"Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my
own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his
theory of a "thousand marbles."
"You see, I sat down one day and did a little
arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five
years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on
average, folks live about seventy-five years. "Now then,
I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which
is the number of Saturdays that the average person has
in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm
getting to the important part.
It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think
about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that
time I had lived through over 2800 Saturdays." "I got to
thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had
about a 1000 of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy
store and bought every single marble they had. I ended
up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000
marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large,
clear plastic container right here in the shack next to
my gear."
"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out
and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles
diminish, I focused more on the really important things
in life.
There is nothing like watching your time here on this
earth run out to help get your priorities straight."
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off
with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This
morning, I took the very last marble out of the
container. I figure that if I make it until next
Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And
the one thing we can all use is a little more time."
"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time
with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on
the band. This is a 75 Year old man, K9NZQ, clear and
going QRT, good morning!"
You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this
fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think
about. I had planned to work on the antenna that
morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams
to work on the next club newsletter.
Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a
kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to
breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a
smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time
since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And
hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need
to buy some marbles.
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