marbles

just a thought... so make the most of the weekend

> >
> > Subject: Out of 3900 marbles - how many do you have?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 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 whom-ever 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 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 gift of 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 sent it 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.
> >
> > Pass this on to all of your FRIENDS, even if it
> > means sending it to the
> > person that sent it to you.
> >
> > And if you receive this e-mail many times from many
> > different people, it
> > only means that you have many FRIENDS.
> >
> > And if you get it but once, do not be discouraged
> > for you will know that you
> > have at least one good friend...
> >
> > And that would be ME.
> >