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One Leg Up on What Lies Within Thanks to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Happy Birthday MOM! 12-18-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Derek. Well, happy birthday to my mom.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Laurie se Brockway, I'm the one we got the network
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: how to give that let a shout out before midnight,
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  Speaker 1: and I've called her today, a master's student who has
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: mastered the art of parenting and continues to run a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: masterclass on parenting every day. And it's thanks to her
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that I'm even here today, because it's year alone, has
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: been quite a year, but it's thanks to her in
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: general that I've been here. And so of course you're
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: thankful for the day your mom was born, but you're
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  Speaker 1: also thankful for how amazing she is. And I'm so
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  Speaker 1: thankful for that. So Laurie's to Broadway my mom, Happy
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: birthday to you. And we share a kind of interesting
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  Speaker 1: bond in that we love writers and poets and we
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  Speaker 1: share a kinship over our love of Ralph Waldo Emerson. So,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: as many of you know, my fiance Gabby underwent neurosurgery
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  Speaker 1: and she's recovering slowly but surely. But on the way
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  Speaker 1: back to the hospital yesterday before she would have released,
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  Speaker 1: I saw this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that says
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  Speaker 1: what lies behind us and what lies before us are
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  Speaker 1: tiny matters compared to what lies within us. When I
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  Speaker 1: saw that quote, I thought of the inner strength and
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  Speaker 1: the inner And I know she's probably listening in the
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  Speaker 1: other room, but I'm gonna gloat on her for a minute.
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  Speaker 1: That inner strength, that inner power to will through something
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  Speaker 1: like a drill to the head, as she likes to say,
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  Speaker 1: and as was done on Monday in this MVD surgery.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: My microvascular decompression is what it's called. And the miraculous
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  Speaker 1: thing about the surgery is it helped unnerve in her
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  Speaker 1: brain be get some relief, and so hopefully that brings
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  Speaker 1: her less pain. But I saw this quote, I go
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  Speaker 1: back to the hospital, and north Wald Health took great
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  Speaker 1: care of her. By the way, and an hour or
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  Speaker 1: so after I see this quote, the physical therapists come
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  Speaker 1: in and let me tell you, less than twenty four
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  Speaker 1: hours after going under her brains, which took about a
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  Speaker 1: four hour long time and space on Monday, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: she stood up. And when I tell you how proud
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  Speaker 1: I was, how I saw her strength and how I
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  Speaker 1: saw her will to keep going and recover through this,
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  Speaker 1: it was in the moment that she stood up. Now,
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  Speaker 1: people may not know this, but Gabby has the ability
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  Speaker 1: to stand up. If she was given the proper walkers,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: she could probably do some walking as well. But she
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  Speaker 1: scoots around in the motorized power chair, as many of
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  Speaker 1: you know. But in this moment, when she stood up,
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  Speaker 1: that's when I knew what lies within her. As Ralph
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  Speaker 1: Waldo Emerson would say, and strength, power, and really just
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  Speaker 1: fortitude lie within her and the will to move forward,
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  Speaker 1: so much so that when transport came to get us,
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  Speaker 1: they thought they'd have to wheel her out in the
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  Speaker 1: pack in a manual chair because the warnings say you
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  Speaker 1: don't operate heavy machinery. Well here she was, twenty four
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  Speaker 1: hours after brain surgery, wheeling herself out of Northwell Hospital
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours later. And if that doesn't show a
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  Speaker 1: person or a group of people, what type of person
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  Speaker 1: Gabby is, I don't know, because that right there showed
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  Speaker 1: the true testament to who she is, the true fighter
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  Speaker 1: that she is. She raised her hand humphists in the
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  Speaker 1: air like a victory when she found out she was
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  Speaker 1: a door a night after the surgery happened. So, Babe,
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  Speaker 1: I know you're listening in the other room right now.
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  Speaker 1: You have what lies within you to get you onto
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  Speaker 1: the next part of this recovery and what lies before us,
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  Speaker 1: as Emerson would write, and I'm very confident that we
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  Speaker 1: can go through and push through what lies before us
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  Speaker 1: as a team, as individuals who continually bond together, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's our adventures to Yankee Stadium or for God's sakes,
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  Speaker 1: our time spend next to each other's bedside, We're bonding
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  Speaker 1: one way or another. And when she found out she
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  Speaker 1: was having these issues, she got at all checked out
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  Speaker 1: in October. This was the recommendation she chose. That recommendation.
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  Speaker 1: A certain did a really amazing job as far as
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  Speaker 1: we could tell based on what he's told us, and
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  Speaker 1: now it's time to recover. But I also found it
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  Speaker 1: fitting to talk about this quote on my mom's birthday
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  Speaker 1: because when she was a thirty six year old and
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  Speaker 1: not understanding what happened to me when I was born,
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  Speaker 1: that had to take a lot of fortitude and a
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  Speaker 1: lot of gusto and a lot of more will. And
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  Speaker 1: I think that whole process, the seventy seven days that
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  Speaker 1: I was in the NICUU prove what lies within my mom.
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  Speaker 1: She is tough, she is a advocate, and she has
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  Speaker 1: faith that things will work out, but she doesn't rest
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  Speaker 1: on that face. She actually works to making it work out.
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  Speaker 1: She was there when she could every day when I
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  Speaker 1: was in the nick, she was there for every doctor's woman.
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  Speaker 1: And today today she's still there with me, even though
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  Speaker 1: she's going through her own health issues. She's still going
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  Speaker 1: to the hospital me to check out why my golstone
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  Speaker 1: was passed and what the next steps are. Within my
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  Speaker 1: mom is this built.
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  Speaker 2: In instinct to be an amazing person and an amazing parent,
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  Speaker 2: And I'm very thankful to have her as a mom.
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  Speaker 1: On her birthday, I just want to say that. But
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  Speaker 1: in these two scenarios, whether it was my fiance recovering
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  Speaker 1: or what's been going on the last thirty three years,
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  Speaker 1: with what my mom has had to deal with from
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  Speaker 1: her perspective and how she's had dealt with her anxiety,
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  Speaker 1: is about my health crises and how she's powered through
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  Speaker 1: them and encouraged me to power through them. That cannot
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  Speaker 1: be taught. So I think in these scenarios we have
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  Speaker 1: an instance where they are two powerful women and you
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  Speaker 1: cannot teach this kind of will to be a mom
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  Speaker 1: that never stops working as her kid gets older, to
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  Speaker 1: be there to support, to give her love to day
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  Speaker 1: after day, and guidance and wisdom as I get older too.
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  Speaker 1: So if you have those kinds of people in your
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  Speaker 1: life that have a strong will and a strong fortitude
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  Speaker 1: and a powerhouse mentality, while their bodies may not be
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  Speaker 1: as strong at the moment, then you're very lucky that
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  Speaker 1: you have those people by your side. I'm very lucky
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  Speaker 1: that I have these two by my side because their
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  Speaker 1: fortitude is honestly inspiring my will to push forward and
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  Speaker 1: keep going and grow. And I find it awesome that
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  Speaker 1: I can find these forms of inspiration because all my
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  Speaker 1: life this quote has been you know, sort of not
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  Speaker 1: attributed to but equated to what lies within you part.
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  Speaker 1: But sometimes the inspiring need to be inspired. And I
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  Speaker 1: don't often feel myself inspiring, but to get up every
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  Speaker 1: day and roll on one leg, I mean, there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of inspiration I have to keep going even when
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  Speaker 1: times get tough, and it's kind of the people around me,
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  Speaker 1: like my mom, like Gabby, who never stopped moving forward.
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  Speaker 1: So they're inspiring me to move forward in my health,
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  Speaker 1: in my career, and in life. And I want to
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  Speaker 1: thank them both for that inspiration. For helping me realize
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  Speaker 1: what lies within me as well. So, Ralph Waldor Emerson,
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  Speaker 1: you appeared in my life, in all our lives, in
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  Speaker 1: this exact moment for a reason. With this quote, it
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  Speaker 1: served as a reminder that if we have that will
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  Speaker 1: within us, we can get through anything. She has. Gabby
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  Speaker 1: has that will within her. Mom has that will and
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  Speaker 1: that drive, I guess is what I call it within her.
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  Speaker 1: And between those two inspiring me and pushing me forward
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  Speaker 1: and then this gallstone thing that happened, I'm realizing I
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  Speaker 1: too have a power within me to bulldoze the next
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  Speaker 1: steps of whatever lies ahead of us. And I'm thankful
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  Speaker 1: for that fortitude and that will that was built into
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  Speaker 1: me thanks to the will of my mom and my
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  Speaker 1: dad and my stepdad and now my fiance. And it's
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  Speaker 1: a will to care for so many in addition to
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  Speaker 1: themselves that I am learning more and more about as
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  Speaker 1: I get older here, and I'm proud to talk about
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  Speaker 1: it here on the wall a gun now, So happy birthday, Mom, Gabby.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not going to keep pushing forward, and I love
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  Speaker 1: you and I love my mom, and together we're all
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  Speaker 1: going to get through this. From Gaby's family, and my family,
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  Speaker 1: the two of us, it's going to be a team effort.
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  Speaker 1: But this whole experience has reminded me, and this whole
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  Speaker 1: year has really opened my eyes to how much of
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  Speaker 1: a will the loved ones around us have within them
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  Speaker 1: to see us succeed as a couple and as individuals.
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  Speaker 1: And it's great that that ambition is wearing off on
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  Speaker 1: both of us day by day by day. And I
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  Speaker 1: think it helps that we're both internally ambitious to begin with.
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  Speaker 1: Now we can harness that together and grow together and
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  Speaker 1: grow leaps and bounds beyond this recovery. And I look
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  Speaker 1: forward to reading more about rafald Emerson because he's got
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  Speaker 1: these amazing quotes. I've done a series about this. It's
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: only a two part things, but I guess you'll make
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  Speaker 1: this part three. He really inspired me during the pandemic
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  Speaker 1: and here we go again, another hell thing, and he's
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  Speaker 1: here for inspiration. Gotta love that. On the one, I
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  Speaker 1: got network, Happy birthday, Mom. I love you so much
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  Speaker 1: and I'm so thankful for you.