By Staff
Chuck Bodiford
As this weekend draws closer it has become harder to contemplate that this coming up Saturday will mark my daughter's first birthday. I know many of you are probably saying it can't be a year yet; trust me I am saying the same exact thing. But yes, no matter how you slice it whether its one year, 12 months, 52 weeks or even 365 days, the little girl is growing up.
It's inevitable but change is a constant factor in our lives. Even now the country has had to decide whether we wanted to keep the current presidential administration or give someone else a crack at the presidency. With my daughter, she is now crawling, eating solids, has two teeth she proudly displays and says those magic words, "dada," almost consistently. With all these changes it is readily apparent that time is moving past us in a glimpse of an eye.
As a child it was as though Christmas would never get here, but now I often say, "already." With time seeming to slip by faster and faster I am reminded of a story that someone sent when I was enlisted in the Air Force. I believe it goes something like this.
A gentleman settled down one morning to enjoy his normal Saturday routine of drinking coffee and listening to his radio program. On the radio was golden-toned older gentleman talking to another person about the long hours he had to work. The older gentleman gave a little advice telling him his trick of keeping his priorities in line, involving marbles. According to the story most people live an average of 75 years, some more and some less. Looking at 75 years though, this means that a person on average will have 3900 Saturdays derived from multiplying 75 years by 52 weeks. The older gentleman had already spent 2900 Saturdays when he thought of this. So he went to the nearest toy store and bought 1000 marbles and put them in a container in his garage. Every Saturday the man goes out to the garage and throws a marble away. By watching his time count down the older gentleman focused more on what was important to him.
I believe the story ended with the man throwing away his last marble that day looking at each Saturday after that as a little extra blessing. I don't know how many Saturdays you have left, whether a lot or few. What's important is that you realize that time goes by fast and it is important that we live our lives making sure to keep your priorities in check.
Just in case you are wondering, as of Saturday, I'll have 2,392 Saturday's left.
Chuck Bodiford is an Atmore native and publisher of the Advance. He may be reached by calling 368-2123 or by email at chuck.bodiford@atmoreadvance.com
Arthur McLean is the editor of the Atmore Advance.