Attention: TDR Forum Junkies I enjoyed this. Maybe for the meaning or maybe because it reminded me of what my old man used to sit and do in his "shack" early every morning, especially on Saturdays..... Enjoy
3900 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 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 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.
3900 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 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 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.
