"1,000 Marbles"

I'm a Ham radio operator and spend some time working with radios and
electronics. So when I heard this story it really made me think! I
hope that you will find some application in your own life as well...

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, 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 3,900 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
1,000 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." You could have heard a
pin drop on the radio 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 Unknown