Today's Dose of Smile-Therapy

One day a man was caught off guard by a story he heard being told on the radio. He dropped what he was doing and tuned in…
 
“Well Tom, it sure sounds like you are busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home from your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work 60-70 hours a week to make ends meet."  "It’s too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital,” he continued.  “Let me tell you something that has helped me keep 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, people get to about seventy -five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 by 52 weeks and came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their 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 2800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, 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 go to three separate  toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside 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 earth pass before your eyes and run out, to help you get your priorities straight.”
 
“One final thing-  before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out to 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 all can use, is a little more time." 

Ahh, now what to do with that precious gift…”