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