[TenTec] FW: from wb8zsk

[EDWARD CRAWFORD]

>Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 15:49:30 -0700 (PDT)
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>1000 Marbles
>hummmmmmmm.........ponder over this story for a little while..........
>
>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 ham-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 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 en! tire 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 t! aken one Marble out and thrown it 
>away. I found that by watching the Marbles diminish, I focus 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  pla nned 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 sto! p at a toy store while we're 
>out? I nee d 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.
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