Ikigai Thought for Today: Get Up, Get Out, Gone!
When what we always thought would remain disappears.
Yesterday was a sad day for me and likely not for the reason some of you might think.
It started last week with the passing of Bob Uecker. For those of us in the Milwaukee area Uecker, the radio voice of the Milwaukee Brewers, was a staple of life. Each spring he would take us on a baseball journey that lasted through the fall.
He was famous for his home run call…Get up, get up, get outta here, gone! Many eulogized hi with heartfelt variations.
Uecker was world famous and also just a guy who lived right here where we all did. For over 50 years he was a part of our lives.
He was 90, so while it should have been no surprise that someone his age had passed away it didn’t seem possible.
Immediately upon hearing the news this thought from Mike Rowe, came to my mind.
“It’s crazy how fast things can happen, isn’t it? How quickly people can leave us, after a lifetime of always being there?”
Rowe was commenting on the passing of the mom of a childhood friend. Someone who had always been in his life and now, seemingly impossibly was gone.
This January 20th represented a decade since my father left this world. Someone who had always been there and was no longer.
He was 88 and like Uecker, the death of someone at that age isn’t unusual nor entirely surprising. Yet, I was surprised because he and I were hiking in the mountains above Tuscon only days before. He had always been there and in a moment, he was gone.
In a weird and perhaps twisted coincidence, I’m writing all this as I recover from the flu. The same thing that ultimately took my father.
For me, this has been a week-long reflection on mortality. There’s an old song that talks about giving the people we love, ‘someone to be lonely for.’
Uecker did that for many, my dad for a smaller circle though for those of us close to him just as much or more.
We all are here until we aren’t. My prayer is that my life impacts those close to me such that they are lonely for me when I’m gone. I pray the same for you.
Quest well
A beautiful wish, to have mattered to someone, to have had your life make a difference,
Please know that indeed you matter to many of your invisible friends here in Stacklandia.
Thank you David. My father passed away suddenly, but not expectedly and as you say he was always there until he wasn't. He was my business mentor and my "life philospohy coach" and I am still so grateful for the copious time we had together. I take your prayer to heart as I am now the old man to my children.
I cried when I got the news about Bob. As a west coast Canadian you wouldn't think that would be the case but I grew up watching him on the Tonight Show. He was one the greatest deadpan comedians of all time and I adored him. His famous line from the movie "juuuust a liiittle outside" will make me laugh for the rest of my days.