Joke of the day

[Jim at Gentex]

OK, here's an oldie that's pretty good...

  Old Paddy O'Grady and three of his mates played golf together every Saturday morning from May through September for as many years as any of them could remember.  Paddy had, over the years, developed somewhat of a reputation for being a cold and calculating sort who never gave his mates an inch.  Since the traditional wager for the day's round was for the loser to buy each of his mates a pint afterward, this was serious business for a man like Paddy!  Sympathy was just as hard to get from 'ol Paddy as a shilling.
 
  One beautiful June morning, the regular foursome was preparing to tee off.  As Paddy was lining up to hit his first ball of the day, he suddenly backed away and stared off toward the road that ran alongside the golf course.  His friends were perplexed at first, but then they realized that a funeral procession was approaching slowly along the road.  As the hearse passed by Paddy slowly removed his cap, held it over his heart, and stood staring straight ahead like a granite statue.  The four men stood silently and reverently until the last of the mourners had passed, after which the other three turned their gaze toward Paddy.  Needless to say, they were shocked and amazed at this sudden display of emotion from their usually gruff and seemingly heartless mate.

  " What's all this then, Paddy?" chuckled one of his friends. 
" Goin' soft on us are ye?" asked another.

  Paddy placed his golf cap back on his head and turned back toward his friends.
" Lads..." he began in his crotchety old brogue, "There goes one of the foinest hewman beeins God ever placed upon this here green Earth", pointing a crooked finger in the direction of the receding funeral procession.

  As he stepped toward his golf ball once again, his friends couldn't resist asking.
" So...", the first friend declared, " Ye knew the dearly departed then, did ye?"
"Aye...", answered Paddy as he lined up his shot. 
"She and I'd 'a been married forty eight years come next Tuesday!"