My Uncle Joe

My Uncle Joe was an avid golfer most of his life, often playing five times a week or more well into his 80s. He often said as he got older that if you don’t have a reason to wake up in the morning then what’s the use?

Getting up to play nine holes or whatever he had the strength to muster at his beloved Twin Hills Golf Club – easily my favorite course in Oklahoma – was one of the main things that kept Uncle Joe going as the years went by. Or sometimes he would just hit balls on the practice range.

That image cracks me up. Here’s a man in his 80s still trying to get better at a game that’s impossible to master and easy to get frustrated at and discouraged by. He still wanted to hit it a little straighter or, hopefully, a little farther.

We can all learn something from that. Never give up. Keep moving forward. Live for today, not tomorrow or yesterday.

Uncle Joe got his first hole in one just a few years back after having played for nearly 60 years. Talk about persistence! I didn’t have an ace of my own at that time, but I made sure to call Uncle Joe soon after I ended my 30-year drought three years ago and he couldn’t have been happier for me.

I know this is space is suppose to be about all things UCO, but my Uncle Joe is worth a brief interruption. A World War II veteran, he always had a suaveness about him that I envied. He was my mom’s older brother and always took care of her. He was all class, all the time.

We lost Uncle Joe late Wednesday night. The spirit and mind were willing, but his body finally just wore out. He was still sharp as a tack when I last visited him on Sunday, even cracking a couple of jokes, but his time was coming and we both knew it when we said our good byes that day.

I’m going to miss my Uncle Joe. But I’m going to think of him every time I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, knowing that life is out there and you have to live it to the fullest just like he did.