Future Web Site Of KA2ALT Gerry Russo KA2ALT
Welcome
to the City of Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford Amateur Radio Association
About 6-7 years ago, I received a powerful e-mail from a friend Robin. As some of you may know, I've been collecting the very best e-mails on a multitude of subjects for many years. Today I received the very same piece from another friend Steve, and thought that it merits space in our SARA newsletter. It's especially powerful to me now because I am in fact 75 years old, (as in the piece) and it reflects a message that I'd like to pass along to all of my younger ham friends.
I checked out the K9NZQ call with ARRL, and there is no such call listed, so if you like; its OK to use KA2ALT since I in fact am 75 years old.
Gerry, KA2ALT
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, 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 roundup 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 that 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."
Make
today count for every one you waste can never be lived again.
Spend
your marbles wisely.
Gerry Russo
Radio KA2ALT
Delray Beach FL USA