The Hamiltons from Hopkington

Last week my brother Scott, his wife Mary Jo and their kids (Julia and Ryan) came out to stay with us for a week here in Denver. They live in a great little town just west of Boston called Hopkington. Originally the reason for their visit was because I wanted to invite Scott out to play golf with me in my member-guest tournament at my club. But as the months grew closer to the tournament, I realized that it was just going to be a great excuse to get to spend time with all of them and really get to know them.

Now I'm a pretty competitive guy, especially when it comes to sports. Losing hasn't been a big fan of mine in my vocabulary. I don't like the feeling I get when it happens to me so I try to avoid it at all cost. Last year, at my member-guest, my partner and I ran away with our flight and I had all intentions of doing so again this year, except now doing so with my brother. Well - we got beat up pretty bad. Decent shape going into the 3rd day of the tournament with a clear shot at 2nd and maybe even 1st, but then just fell apart on the last day and wound up finishing 4th out of 6 teams in the flight.

A weird thing happened to me going through the last match while being just creamed by the 1st place team - I started to just enjoy being with my brother. Now don't get me wrong, I still don't like to lose, in fact I detest it, but this was bigger than winning or losing, it was about being with my brother in a different way that I've ever experienced before. And I liked that way of feeling even more than I hated losing. While Scott was bummed out about losing, deep down I felt like I won the lottery. In fact, that same night at the awards ceremony, a good friend of mine (Kathy Bergstrom) asked me if I was "bummed out that I didn't win" and I responded "I got a chance to play golf with and get to know my brother - how often do you get to do that". Needless to say, I had a blast with the Hamiltons from Hopkington; Julia (my God Daughter) is an incredible 13 year old that's going to be breaking a lot of  hearts. And, she's already decided she wants to be a "Colorado Chick" and go to CU - Go Buffs! Ryan (the Swami) knows more about sports trivia than any other 10 year old on the planet - an ESPN Sports Center fanatic and a big fan of the "Bob Your Head Burger King commercials :-). Mary Jo is more than just a sister in-law, I consider her a friend.

Scott's the second from the right in this picture and closest to me in age, the other two (Keith on the left, Kevin on the right) are part of the Hamilton clan as well - along with Debbie and Kim. One of my goals over the next two years is to get to spend the quality time with each of my brothers and sisters that I haven't over the last 46 years.

So here's to spending time with your brothers and sisters in a way that you've never done before.