Just a quick history. The story 1,000 Marbles is extraordinary. I have posted it below in its entirety for those who haven’t read it. A friend, mentor, and leader in our company Wendell loved the story so much that he bought marbles for everyone and a nice glass jar. Upon reaching a certain level in business, when your business is reasonably good and busy, as a regional leader, Wendell would present you with the number of marbles to your age 75. The marbles and the story are supposed to help you keep your business and life in balance.
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. 73 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."
When I first received my marbles and jar, I started carrying a marble with me every Saturday, and if doing something fun, I would make sure to get a picture of the event with me holding the marble. Later that changed, and I removed the marble and put it into a separate container. Then, several years later, I was home on a sick day, revisiting the story, taking all the marbles out of the jar, and counting them. Where was I on my journey? I then brought the marble count up to date and put an entry into my journal so I could stay up with it regularly. I also shifted a calendar reminder to Friday or Saturday to help me remember to live my life.
Here is my theory of a thousand marbles. The 1,000 marble story helps us remember to live our life by taking a marble out every week and making sure we spend time with those we love or do something worth living. While counting my marbles on that dull, sick day, I thought, what if I reverse the idea? How about taking a marble out for every exciting thing, every happy moment, every time I consciously live my life? Could I live more than one lifetime? After all,
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away.” ~ Anonymous
If a thousand marbles represent Saturday's number between age 53 (or so) to age 75, could I empty the jar more than once? Twice? Three or four times?
For example, I had a great day today. Friends joined me for breakfast and a day of skiing. We ate, skied, crashed, laughed, and ate some more. We were all tired and very fulfilled... one marble day. Tomorrow I'll go skiing alone and meet Linda for a nice dinner; we'll have a pleasant conversation and enjoy each other's company. Another marble?
Last week, I skied Friday, hiked in Zion National Park on Saturday, and met Linda for dinner in Mesquite before dropping into bed at midnight, dead tired but fulfilled... 3 marbles? Now that I think about it, I’ll need to make another trip to the toy store.
Reference:
Davis, Jeffrey. *1000 Marbles*, www.atimetolaugh.org/onethousandmarbles.html.
This post is a Journal Entry dated March 2, 2012.