darwin hawkins
you are a marvel
i just loved your post
but most especially the last three sentences
i no longer work but loved my job passionately, l loved the money but was
passionate about the job
i will try to love as if i have never been hurt
thats a bit hard but possible
dancing is my other passion so i will have to pretend noone is watching as i
like to show off in my old age
you made my day
judy



>From: "Hawkins, Darwin" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: NONPD: Saturday Morning Marbles
>Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 07:48:21 -0500
>
>I received the following this morning, and I want to share it.
>Darwin
>
>- - - - - - -
>
>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 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 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.  He was telling whoever 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 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 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."
>
>Work like you don't need the money...
>Love like you've never been hurt...
>Dance like nobody's watching...

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