Captains Cat
New member
I don't normally send things like this on but this one hit close to home.... Quite a few hams on here, they will particularly appreciate this, I hope. I'm going out to buy marbles this week..
charlie
The older I get, the more I enjoy Sunday 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 my Sunday's usually begin with a steaming cup of coffee in one
hand and the morning paper in the other.
What began as a typical Sunday 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 Sunday 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 Sundays 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 Sundays. 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 Sunday 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
Sunday 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 up! stairs 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
Sunday 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
I don't normally send things like this on but this one hit close to home....
Read it please.
Dusty my friend, as far as I'm concerned you've still got all your marbles. At least as far as time goes, as for the boat stuff....the jury's still out.... :shock: :lol: :love
charlie
The older I get, the more I enjoy Sunday 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 my Sunday's usually begin with a steaming cup of coffee in one
hand and the morning paper in the other.
What began as a typical Sunday 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 Sunday 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 Sundays 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 Sundays. 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 Sunday 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
Sunday 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 up! stairs 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
Sunday 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
I don't normally send things like this on but this one hit close to home....
Read it please.
Dusty my friend, as far as I'm concerned you've still got all your marbles. At least as far as time goes, as for the boat stuff....the jury's still out.... :shock: :lol: :love
