500 Marbles
About a year and a half ago I began a daily conversation between myself and some little friends, and although never a word was spoken, it was a very important conversation. Each morning I received a reminder to be patient, to keep focused, and pace myself. Let me explain.
You see, for several years I had been talking about retiring “some day”. But it was all talk, and frankly I was on track to die at my desk or have my license revoked for doddering incompetence.
The truth is that not much of importance happens until you draw a line in the sand. So, on the urging of some wise friends, I set an “outside date”, a year and a half away. Seemed harmless enough.
Oddly, once a date was set, I nearly fell into a depression with the realization that five hundred days was an eternity away. I knew that if I didn’t do something to visualize those five hundred days, I would chew off my arm to escape the trap of time.
So off I went and bought myself a huge cylindrical glass vase and five hundred marbles, including one honker the size of a golf ball, which was placed strategically at the centre bottom. Around the perimeter of the cylinder, at the top of the column of marbles, I stretched a piece of coloured tape so as to track progress.
The next morning I lifted out a single little sphere and dropped it into a mug.
“Tink!” it said softly, almost imperceptibly. I stared at it and my heart sank. With cold horror, I realized this was going to be a long haul.
Two marbles, then ten, then eventually the mug was full. It seemed, though, that the column of marbles had subsided very little.
After two mugs had been filled, there was a small but noticeable gap between the bottom of the tape and the top of the column of marbles. I began to feel hope.
As more mugs filled, I took cheer that the end was in sight. It was then that the second terror arrived: I would never have enough time to take care of everything which needed to be done. Clients, files, run-off insurance, handovers, association memberships, cell phone plans, taking home all the mementos which lined my window ledges, data backups, long-term file storage, capital allocations, transfer memos, my books, my robes, my certificates….. Aarrghhh!!!! A near-panic set in.
But as each marble said “Tink!”, it reminded me that it represented only one day and there remained enough days to complete the tasks of winding up a law practice, if only I was purposeful, patient, and methodical.
And it worked. Finally the last marble, the big guy, said “Tonk!”, which in marble-ese means “It’s done!” And so it was, Everything was left tidy. With relief and clear consciences, Karen and I got into the car and drove off for a holiday in Nova Scotia.
I’m grateful to each little marble that said “Tink!” in the morning and reminded me that “this too shall pass, and you need to keep putting one foot ahead of the other!” Of course, I’m most grateful for the big marble who said “Tonk!”, but it couldn’t say that until the first 499 little marbles had spoken.
Today I’ve got an empty vase and 500 marbles– let me know if you’d like to borrow them!
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