Amateur Radio Operator N4NU

I have been a ham radio operator for over 40 years. I have talked to
over 100 countries and all states. My brother Ronald sent this to me
this morning.
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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.

Pass this on to all of your FRIENDS, even if it means sending it to the
person that sent it to you.

And if you receive this e-mail many times from many different people, it
only means that you have many FRIENDS.

And if you get it but once, do not be discouraged for you will know that
you have at least one good friend...

And that would be ME.

Thanks and 73s from N4NU Dan