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 kitchen 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 volume up on my radio
in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show.
I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice.
You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.
He was talking about "a thousand marbles"
to someone named "Tom." I was intrigued
and sat down 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 roundup
1000 marbles.
I took them home and put them inside of a large,
clear plastic container right here in my workshop
next to the radio. 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 if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me
with a little extra time to be with my loved ones......
"It was nice to talk to you Tom,
I hope you spend more time with your loved ones,
and I hope to meet you again someday.
Have a good morning!"
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished.
Even the show's moderator didn't
have anything to say for a few moments.
I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.
I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym.
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," I said.
" It has 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."
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