3900 Saturdays
The older I get, The more I enjoy Saturday mornings.
Perhaps it is the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it is the unbounded joy of not having to be at work.
Either way, the first few hours of 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 a lesson that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.
I turned the dial up on the phone portion of my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net.
I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he should be in the broadcasting service.
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 sounds like you're busy with your job. I am sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet.
It's too bad you missed you daughter's 'dance recital' he continued.
'Let me tell something that has help me to 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 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 an average person has in their entire lifetime.
Now stick with me, Tom, I am 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 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 to buy every single marble they had.
I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them in large, clear plastic container right here in the shack right next to my gear'.
'Every Saturday since then, I have taken one out and threw 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 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. I hope to meet you here on the band. This is a seventy-five year old man, KN9ZQ 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 this morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.
Instead, I went upstairs to wake my wife up with a kiss. 'C'mon honey, I am 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 morning with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we are out ? I need to buy some marbles.'
A friend sent this to me, so I send this to you.
And so as one smart bear once said....
"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you". - Winnie The Pooh
Pass this on to your friends.
And if you received this email from many different people, it means you have many FRIENDS.
And if you get but once do not be discouraged for you will know that you have at least a good friend.
And that would be ME.
Author unknown
No comments:
Post a Comment