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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's still Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: Today's Father's Day. And last year we recorded a Father's

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Speaker 1: Day message that we got a lot of good response

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Speaker 1: from and we're going to rerun. It's real personal for me,

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Speaker 1: but I think it has a greater lesson for everybody,

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Speaker 1: and I hope you'll listen to it right after these

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Speaker 1: brief messages from our general sponsors. Okay, everybody, welcome back.

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Speaker 1: So a few weeks ago we were recording some video

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Speaker 1: content and during that the following is what I had

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Speaker 1: to say about Father's Day. I hope you find it meaningful.

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Speaker 1: My dad left home when I was four, and we

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Speaker 1: really didn't have much of a relationship. He actually passed

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Speaker 1: not too long ago, and it was my stepbrother that

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Speaker 1: actually told me, and I had nothing to do with it.

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Speaker 1: We had no relationship, and there were a lot of uh,

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of My mother was very well intentioned,

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Speaker 1: and I don't wanna make it sound like she's evil,

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Speaker 1: but there were a lot of guys after that that

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Speaker 1: came into my life, and there were a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys that left, and so as a result, Father's Day

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Speaker 1: has always been a really kind of sore spot for me,

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Speaker 1: I didn't even reckon ignize it. But in my early forties,

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Speaker 1: Lisa pointed out to me, more than pointed out, very frustratingly, said,

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Speaker 1: you know, quit being an asshole on Father's Day. It's

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Speaker 1: not about you anymore. You have your own children and

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Speaker 1: now you are a father. So I know you can't

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Speaker 1: celebrate Father's Day from a standpoint of celebrating a father,

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Speaker 1: but you can. You can celebrate Father's Day from the

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Speaker 1: standpoint of being a father. And I didn't even recognize

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Speaker 1: that I got miserable on Father's Day, but I but

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Speaker 1: I did. And and the truth is, you know, I identified

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Speaker 1: as a as a kid. Now I identify with the

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Speaker 1: kids of a Nassis a lot more closely than I

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Speaker 1: identified with my own children. In terms of my reality.

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Speaker 1: I understand growing up without a father. I understand then

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Speaker 1: the kind of hopelessness and sadlessness that accompanies not having

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Speaker 1: a father in your life and all that that entails.

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Speaker 1: And I understand the sadness, and I understand that when

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Speaker 1: you're a fourteen fifteen year old, strapping guy and you

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Speaker 1: look at the mirror and your father has no interest

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Speaker 1: in you, I understand look in the mirror and thinking

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Speaker 1: something must be wrong with me. You know, why is

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Speaker 1: it that I lack such value that my own father

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Speaker 1: doesn't even want to spend time with me, especially on

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Speaker 1: Father's Day? And I thought that for many years, and

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Speaker 1: I know many of the kids have played football for me,

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Speaker 1: and an Ass fought that for many years. And so

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Speaker 1: on the one hand, you see a grown man with

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Speaker 1: a business and some success and been married to his

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Speaker 1: wife for thirty years, and these beautiful four children who've

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Speaker 1: grown up well adjusted and happy and healthy, and you think, oh, well,

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Speaker 1: I know what that guy's life looks like. But the

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Speaker 1: truth you don't. You have no idea the trauma that

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Speaker 1: preceded the life that I have now. And as a

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Speaker 1: result of that, people have always asked me, how do

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Speaker 1: you think you connected so well with the kids of

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Speaker 1: an Asses, being this white business guy. And the truth is,

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Speaker 1: I don't identify as a white business guy, identify as

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Speaker 1: a kid that came from a lot of trauma. And

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Speaker 1: so the truth is not really understand them more and

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Speaker 1: their reality more than I understand my own kid's reality

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Speaker 1: because I didn't grow up like my kids did, so

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Speaker 1: it took a lot of work to get to a

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Speaker 1: place that Father's Days a happy day around my house.

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Speaker 1: But Lisa whip my ass into shape like she normally does,

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Speaker 1: and now we have good Father's Days. But it took

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Speaker 1: a long time to get there. So there it is, folks,

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Speaker 1: that's my Father's Day story. I think holidays being different

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Speaker 1: things to different people, and Father's Day for me really

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Speaker 1: means redemption. My wife and my children, my family have

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Speaker 1: redeemed me in so many ways. And what I have

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Speaker 1: so much to be thankful for on Father's Day now

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Speaker 1: is the four beautiful children I have and what they

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Speaker 1: have meant and my life and what they have meant

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Speaker 1: to fulfill my life and a place that I was

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Speaker 1: very empty. So to my wife and to my children,

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Speaker 1: to my family, I love you and I thank you. Okay, guys,

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Speaker 1: on the final note, right now, believe it or not,

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Speaker 1: we're in the top fifteen podcast in the world on

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Speaker 1: Apple's chart, which is nuts. And it's because of you, guys.

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Speaker 1: It's because of the army of normal folks. It's because

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Speaker 1: of our listeners as subscribers and are amazing guests. You know,

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Speaker 1: it'd be crazier if we made it to number one.

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Speaker 1: We're trying we would like to get to number one,

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Speaker 1: not because we get to put a feather in our

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Speaker 1: hat or we get to pat ourselves on the back,

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Speaker 1: but by going up the chart would mean even more attention,

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Speaker 1: more listeners, and more Army members and therefore more impact

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Speaker 1: on our community. So if your game to go number

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Speaker 1: one with me, the best thing you can do is

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Speaker 1: subscribe on Apple, rate and review us, hopefully with five

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Speaker 1: star rating everything we deserve it. And share this episode

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Speaker 1: and our other episodes and episodes that come out next week.

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Speaker 1: Share them with others you love, friends, sharing my social media, email,

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Speaker 1: and anywhere you can together. I genuinely believe we can

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Speaker 1: change this country starts with us, It starts with you.

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Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, and I'll see you next time.