Here is a good story. Enjoy ....
73 de Denny AD6EZ <><
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Saturday mornings
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 basement shack 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. 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 round-up 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 here on the band.
73 Old Man, this is 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. 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 SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL!