A Thousand Marbles

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 whoever he was talking with

something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued

and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well,

Jim, 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 Jim,

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 aithmetic.

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 Jim, 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 Jim , I hope you spend more

time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on

the band. 75 year 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."

Author: Jeffrey Davis