[KYHAM] A Thousand Marbles

[K4lid at cedarvalleybbs.com]

Think about this.
Subject: A Thousand Marbles


 A Thousand 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 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 whoever 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.
 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 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 roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and
 put them inside of 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 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."

 You could have heard a pin drop on the radio 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."

 HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND MAY ALL YOUR SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL.