[K6NCG] FW: Only have 364 my own self . . .

[Charlie Kotan]

I got this from a Submariner pal - I don't think he's a Ham, but it's a
great message.

 

 


This is cool.....'3900 Saturdays'

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 whomever 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
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 radio 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's nothing like watching your time here on 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.

A friend sent this to me, so I to you, my friend.

And so, as one smart bear once said...'If you live to be a hundred, I want
to live to be a hundred minus 
one day, so I never have to live without you.' -

Winnie the Pooh.




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