1000 Marbles

It was my pleasure to take the Reverend Anne Naylor to lunch on Thursday. I’d been asking her to ‘play around’ for a while but although it was sunny, it was cold, so golf was out of the question!

Anne is multi-talented. She is an author on books about personal success and development, she writes for various websites including the Huffington Post (a US based online newspaper), runs a personal development group called ‘Possible Dream’ and performs wedding blessings for the rich and occasionally famous. Her 2008 ‘claim to fame’ (apart from marrying myself and J) was being pictured in Hello magazine, marrying Jamie Packer, the richest man in Australia.

Now, you may think that the Reverend and I cut an unlikely pairing but she has a lighter side and sends me the most awful jokes, many of which are a bit risqué and then she brings me down to earth by sending something very thought provoking, such as the following story from an unknown gentleman, who given his circumstances, could actually be me.       

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 lett 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.'