This is a message from CTLS-L. Selecting "Reply" will send a message to the originator. Selecting "Reply to All" will send a message to the entire list. ---------------------------------------------------------
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 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. 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 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 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.
>
