[K3PZN-List] Something to think about

[K3MTT]

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 my Ham
shack in 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
w as 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 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 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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