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 study 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.
"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 math. The average
person lives about 75 years. I know, some live
more and some live less, but on average, folks
live about 75 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 55 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 75, 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 of a large, clear plastic container.
Every Saturday since then, I have taken one
marble out." "I found that by watching the
marbles diminish, I focus more on the 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. 75 year Old Man, this is
K9NZQ, clear and going, 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 Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can
we stop at a toy store while we're out?
