[Elfsea] Fwd: 1000 marbles

[Ldyinnes at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/9/06 10:13:13 AM Central Standard Time, 
robertmique at msn.com writes:


> Subject:1000 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 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.
> >>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
> >>
> >>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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Subject: 1000 marbles
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