FOODFORTHOUGHT

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 kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one
hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as atypical
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. 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 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 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 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, 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."

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