Kolar1

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack 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 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. 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 round up 1000 marbles.

I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container
right here in the stack 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 focus 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. 75 year Old Man, this is 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. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I
need to buy some marbles....

NNY S2k

Quite the story!

Whaler

Wow! You took the time to tell/type the story so I took the time to read it this Saturday morning and I'm glad I did. Thanks.

Popeye

That was really a sweet story and kinda goes with the reason I bought my S2000.
A really close buddy of mine was killed in a head-on accident at the age of 36. I hadn't seen him in some time even though we work for the same company. But we got to work together again the Saturday before he was killed.

Which brings me to the reason for being here; both kids are out of school, no major bills, and I thoght life's too short so why not?

So many thing left unsaid,so many thing left undone,but no longer for me . My friend's untimely death was my wake-up call and the reason I live life differently today.

tomcatt

Yowzaahh!!! Kolar, that's quite a story. Thanks for sharing it, I'm going to pass that around with a few friends, AND I am going to make a marble jar today.

My own wakeup call came in 1999. My oldest daughter got married the end of May, and two weeks later we lost my father-in-law quite suddenly, who we were very close to. Three months later I was diagnosed with colon cancer, starting a year of treatment, recovery, and much soul searching. While I was recovering from surgery late winter 2000, my wife decided to go back to school to become a math teacher, so she would have a means of supporting herself if something ever happened to me. That year we decided we were going to live each moment fully. We began taking evening drives in the country, and spending more time with our adult kids and the rest of the extended family. No more extended workaholic weeks, and a lot more time spent together reconnecting with each other.

Four years after being diagnosed, I'm healthy and still cancer free and feeling incredibly lucky that it was caught in time. Hilly graduated with honors and is now teaching HS math. and one of my dreams has come true: owning a high-performance limited production sports car. I feel like I've been able to put a few marbles back into the jar. I turned 52 on August 31; I figure I have 1,194 marbles in my bank after today.

A little preaching on my part, if I may. If you are a Vintage member, you are over 40: PLEASE have a colonoscopy done. Colon cancer is one of the leading killers, and it is TOTALLY curable, IF it is diagnosed in time. Mine was, and I am incredibly lucky that circumstances allowed that to happen. I would hate to hear that one of the S2000 Vintage Owners is no longer with us because of a curable disease that wasn't caught in time.

Tom, who counts his blessings each and every day.

ralper

Kolar, thank you for the great story.

Tom, thank you for the great advice.

This is a great thread, lots of fine lessons here.

Legal Bill

I read this same story about three weeks ago. a friend sent it to me and said someone e-mailed it to her.

It reminds me of the newlywed story. You know, the advice from an old man to the groom about putting a marble in a jar every time he and his bride have sex during the first year of marriage...

Kolar1

I received this story in an e-mail a couple of years ago, I read it often and thought I would pass it on.

It makes me wonder just how may marbles I have wasted.

MsPerky

WOW...I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!!!!!!!!!!