Gossamer_2701
02-09-2004, 03:15 PM
Life is short-time
is fleeting!
1000 Saturdays
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 kitchen 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 volume up on my radio in order to listen to a
Saturday
morning talk show. I heard an older
sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he
sounded like he
should be in the broadcasting
business himself. He was talking about \"a thousand
marbles\" to someone
named \"Tom.\" I was intrigued
and sat down 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 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 roundup 1000
marbles. I took them home and put them inside of
a large, clear plastic container
right here in my workshop
next to the radio. 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
God has blessed me with a little extra time to be
with my loved ones.
\"It was nice to talk to you Tom, I
hope you spend more time with your
loved ones, and I hope to meet
you again someday. Have a good morning!\"
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show\'s
moderator didn\'t have anything to
say
for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had
planned to do some work that
morning, then, go to the gym. 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,\" I
said. \" It has 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.\"
HAVE A GREAT
WEEKEND AND MAY ALL SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL AND MAY YOU HAVE MANY HAPPY YEARS AFTER YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MARBLES
is fleeting!
1000 Saturdays
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 kitchen 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 volume up on my radio in order to listen to a
Saturday
morning talk show. I heard an older
sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he
sounded like he
should be in the broadcasting
business himself. He was talking about \"a thousand
marbles\" to someone
named \"Tom.\" I was intrigued
and sat down 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 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 roundup 1000
marbles. I took them home and put them inside of
a large, clear plastic container
right here in my workshop
next to the radio. 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
God has blessed me with a little extra time to be
with my loved ones.
\"It was nice to talk to you Tom, I
hope you spend more time with your
loved ones, and I hope to meet
you again someday. Have a good morning!\"
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show\'s
moderator didn\'t have anything to
say
for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had
planned to do some work that
morning, then, go to the gym. 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,\" I
said. \" It has 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.\"
HAVE A GREAT
WEEKEND AND MAY ALL SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL AND MAY YOU HAVE MANY HAPPY YEARS AFTER YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MARBLES