Hunting the Good Stuff (and the Green Flash) with Uncle Joe.

If you have taken a Resiliency course in the Army community, you will have most certainly heard the phrase, “Hunt the Good Stuff”. The skill of Hunt the Good Stuff is a tool to help us identify and reflect on the good things in our lives while building positive emotions, like gratitude.

Some people naturally have this skill, and Joseph F. Gressert was one of them.

Last month, I lost one of the great men in my life, my Uncle Joe. He leaves behind my Aunt Terry, the love of his life and wife of 67 years, his sisters Marianne, and Cathleen (My mom), who adored him.

He had no children, but my siblings and our children filled that role the best we could.

He leaves behind a legacy of service, faith, and love.

My Uncle Joe was many things……

A loving husband.

A devoted son and brother.

A beloved Uncle

A career police officer with the storied NYPD.

An Army veteran.

A devout Catholic.

An avid golfer and traveler.

A Yankee fan.

A Florida resident since 1990.

He was a believer.

He believed in God, working hard, and saving wisely.

He believed in doing the right thing and helping others.

Most of all, he believed in the importance of family and staying connected.

His skill at staying connected evolved over the years, from letters and phone calls to emails and texting.

That’s right, my siblings and I enjoyed receiving texts from our 92-year-old uncle. 

Uncle Joe was the true definition of the trendy, military community buzzword “resilient.” My Uncle (like his generation) was resilient before being “resilient” was cool.

He simply adapted to an ever-changing world with his quiet, fearless nature.

One of my favorite pieces of “Uncle Joe advice” was how he encouraged my husband and I to stay home on New Year’s Eve and celebrate quietly with just each other.

He referred to New Year’s Eve as “Amateur Night.”

And man, was he right.

He also took considerable pride in reminding me that every year they went to Midnight Mass on his birthday (Christmas Eve).

He would then laugh and say, “You know that in our retirement town of Punta Gorda, Midnight Mass starts at 10 PM.”

Uncle Joe could deliver a witty one-liner with the best of them. 

But my favorite thing about Uncle Joe was his constant optimism.

He rarely complained and made the best of every situation.

I will always cherish the dance we shared at my wedding. We chose the song together, “What A wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.

A song of contentment, gratitude, and HOPE ……which summed HIM up perfectly.

One thing he was always hopeful about was seeing the elusive, mythical “Green Flash.”

The burst of green light that explodes during a sunset when the sun hits the horizon. Legend has it that if the light separates into different wavelengths, the green light is the last visible wave as the sun disappears.

The sky must be clear and the atmosphere conditions perfect to see the flash.

But what conditions in life are ever perfect?

The flash only lasts a second or two, but that never stopped Uncle Joe from searching for it at every sunset.

He was the original “Hunt the good stuff” guy!

I realize now just how lucky I am that I got to watch those sunsets with him.

Sometimes we watched it at Fisherman’s wharf, or at his home on Darin Drive. We have seen sunsets on Sanibel Island as well as in Pittsburgh, PA and Tomball, Texas

But my all-time favorite sunset place was Ponce De Leon State Park, where we watched the day end in silence, hoping for that flash of green over the Port Charlotte Harbor.

Uncle Joe never did see the green flash, but he kept hunting and hoping!

My siblings and I will keep searching for it.

We will be hunting for it in Texas.

We will try to find it in DC, Florida, and even as far up north as Maine.

And when we finally do see it, I am sure Uncle Joe will be watching it from Heaven with us.

I encourage all of you to stay connected with those you love, no matter what!

Take the pictures.

Write the letters.

Send the emails and texts.

Make the memories.

Watch the sunsets together.

Keep hunting for those “Green Flashes” in life.

Til Valhalla…. Soldier and Faithful Servant!

*For more from Kathleen Palmer, visit her M:M Author Page.