>>Never saw one of these with a ham radio frame.
>>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. &nb sp;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, m y 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.
>>
>>
>>
>>----------
>>
>>No virus found in this incoming message.
>>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>>Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.13/463 - Release Date: 10/4/2006
>
>=
>
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.13.1/466 - Release Date: 10/7/2006
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.13.1/466 - Release Date: 10/7/2006
|
