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Marbles



I am forwarding this, it touched me as I am sure it will touch you.

Subject: FW: Marbles

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 basement shack 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 whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand
marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, 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.  Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."
He continued, "Let me tell you  something Tom, something that has helped me
keep a good perspective on 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, 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 twenty-eight
hundred
Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had
about a thousand 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 tores to
round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large,
clear plastic container right here in the sack 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 focus 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, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet
you again here on the band. 75 year Old Man, this is 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. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I
need to buy some marbles.... "

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