3900 Saturdays

This isn't necessarily about children, but it is a good point for spending time with your children.

3900 Saturdays

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's nothing like watching your time here on
this earth run outto 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.

How many Saturdays do you have left?

I have about 1,872. I am going to enjoy the ones I have with my family. If you figure it, if our children move out at 18, then I have less than 100 with my daughter and am on borrowed marbles with my son.