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Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trotlining and just in general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences in life lessons. This country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives from the store More Studio on Meat

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Speaker 1: Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast the

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Speaker 1: airways have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair

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Speaker 1: or drop that tailgate. I've got some stores to share.

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Speaker 1: The Arkansas Traveler, outdoor shows, dealer summits, and guest lectures

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Speaker 1: at a university have kept me on the highway and

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Speaker 1: in the air for the last few weeks. I got

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Speaker 1: home last night from another out of state trip that

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you about later. But I've been making the

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Speaker 1: rounds and it's and great. I'm excited to tell you

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Speaker 1: all about it and what I learned, and there's no

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Speaker 1: better time to start than right now. The first hunting

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Speaker 1: event I ever remember attending was the Doctor T. E.

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Speaker 1: Ryan Memorial fox Hunt. I couldn't tell you the year

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Speaker 1: or exactly where it took place, but I can surmise

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Speaker 1: I was only six or seven years old and it

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Speaker 1: was held somewhere in the vicinity of ford Ice, Arkansas.

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Speaker 1: The hunt was named in honor of a famed South

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Speaker 1: Arkansas country doctor who said to have delivered upwards of

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Speaker 1: seven thousand babies over his storied career in medicine from

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Speaker 1: eighteen ninety nine to nineteen sixty four. He passed away

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Speaker 1: at the age of eighty six. My dad, as well

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Speaker 1: as many others, at one time or another, were patients

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Speaker 1: of doctor Ryan's, and he told me that conversations with

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Speaker 1: him during any diagnosis for sickness would always turn to

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Speaker 1: hounds before he left his office. So when the annual

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Speaker 1: hunt was held, we would go occasionally to see folks

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Speaker 1: trade dogs here and there, and visit with most of

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Speaker 1: the men that my dad hunted with already, and of

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Speaker 1: course listen to the dog races. Now, compared to the

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Speaker 1: hunting exposed and outdoor shows that today, that is kind

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Speaker 1: of a stretch. But there was usually a vendor or

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Speaker 1: two there making name plates for dog collars and selling

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Speaker 1: flashlights or a few other select hound related hunting items.

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Speaker 1: There weren't a lot of kids there all women, but

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Speaker 1: there was always a few of each. Now fast forward

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Speaker 1: to the last couple of weeks and the places I've

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Speaker 1: been in the world of hunting outdoor exposed, and you

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Speaker 1: can easily easily see the huge progression that's been made

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Speaker 1: in that arena. The first trip this year was the

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Speaker 1: hair This's Burgh, Pennsylvania. Harrisburg is the capital of the

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Speaker 1: Keystone State, and it was there that I met up

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Speaker 1: with my friends from Case Knives to spend a couple

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Speaker 1: of days in their booth, meeting and talking to folks

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Speaker 1: that brave the February weather to attend the show. The

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Speaker 1: wind Hill was twenty below zero and the Susquehanna River

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Speaker 1: was frozen over. There was three feet of snow piled

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Speaker 1: up in the backyard of the airbnb we were staying

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Speaker 1: in the snow that had been pushed off the streets,

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Speaker 1: lining the curves like river levees, directing the floor of

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Speaker 1: traffic along icy corridors of asphalt. You don't have to

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Speaker 1: be a detective to figure out that the people who

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Speaker 1: lived side by side in the townhouses of Harrisburg, at

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Speaker 1: at least on Penn Street, they have dogs. I felt

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Speaker 1: like Indiana Jones, hopping around like I was meticulously picking

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Speaker 1: and choosing each stepped to avoid stepping and in disaster.

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Speaker 1: I left Arkansas that had been shut down for a

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Speaker 1: week due to teen digit cold in eight inches of snow.

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Speaker 1: Now that's what the folks out in PA call a Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: Life was carrying on in what would have completely halted

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Speaker 1: living from my folks down in the south Land. But

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Speaker 1: there in the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, over ae thousand

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Speaker 1: exhibitors had gathered for a nine day event under six

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand square feet of roof. Now that's

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Speaker 1: fifteen acres. If we were going to flood that space

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Speaker 1: with a foot of water to duck hunt in, it

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Speaker 1: would take nearly five million gallons to do it. The

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Speaker 1: show runs for nine days, and they told me that

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Speaker 1: between two hundred and three hundred thousand people will walk

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Speaker 1: the halls in the rows of exhibits looking at the

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Speaker 1: latest and greatest items associated with the outdoor sports. Kyle

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Speaker 1: cloud Line, who the zip O Case Museum and Store

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Speaker 1: in Bradford, and marketing team Guru John Pantuso and I

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Speaker 1: manned Booth two eighty on Saturday and Sunday the first

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Speaker 1: week of the show. Sweet Jesus, I wish you had

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Speaker 1: a Nickela just for everyone I met stop to visit.

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Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many pocket knized folks brought

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Speaker 1: along that when they pulled them out of their pocket,

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Speaker 1: they lied with Grandpa gave me this knife, or I

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Speaker 1: got this from my dad. Those were the people I

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Speaker 1: went to see but didn't know they were coming. I

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Speaker 1: talked to so many was similarly deep rooted connections with

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Speaker 1: the knives they brought and the stories that they told.

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Speaker 1: Also met a bunch from that part of the world

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Speaker 1: who are regular listeners of this show. It was a

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Speaker 1: blessing for me to look at them face to face

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Speaker 1: and see their expressions and hear what they enjoy and

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Speaker 1: get out of this weekly calamity. That was the top

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Speaker 1: list item for me, outside of spending time with my

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Speaker 1: case family. My only complaint there just wasn't enough time

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Speaker 1: to listen to everyone's laundry list of stories. The people

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Speaker 1: were so kind and generous with their time, but they

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Speaker 1: didn't want to hold others up who were there to

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Speaker 1: visit too, and they shuffled off just as they'd arrived,

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Speaker 1: smiling and looking as if they were having the time

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Speaker 1: of their life. I never heard one complaint or one

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Speaker 1: negative comment. Those Yankees know how to have a good

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Speaker 1: time and the hospitality they extended to me started the

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Speaker 1: minute I got in the uber car at the airport.

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Speaker 1: My driver started off the conversation by introducing himself and

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Speaker 1: asking me what I was doing in Pennsylvania. When I

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Speaker 1: told him about the sports show, we started talking about

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Speaker 1: hunting and fishing. He said he loved fishing as a

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Speaker 1: kid back in the country of his birth. And through

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Speaker 1: his fairly thick accent, I learned that he was the

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Speaker 1: father of three boys, seven, four, three months, and through

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Speaker 1: my fairly thick accent, he learned that I had three

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Speaker 1: kids as well. It was a twenty minute ride from

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Speaker 1: the airport to the place where I was staying with

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Speaker 1: Kyle and John, and in that short span of time

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Speaker 1: made a new friend. I asked him about the long

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Speaker 1: hours of driving folks around, and he smiled and said

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Speaker 1: that it was loud at his house. The children were

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Speaker 1: always making noise and breaking things. And he glanced back

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Speaker 1: at me with a big smile and said, I told

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Speaker 1: my wife I'd worked many hours if she'd stay at

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Speaker 1: home with the children. I laughed when he said that.

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Speaker 1: He looked back at me, giggling and said, sir, you know.

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Speaker 1: Then he told me their names, and the pride in

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Speaker 1: which he spoke about him made me know that just

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Speaker 1: like me, we were both working, but would really preferred

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Speaker 1: to be at home with the folks that were breaking

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Speaker 1: things and making all that racket. It was the same

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Speaker 1: with the family I met at the show. People may

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Speaker 1: have wanted to shake my hand and talk about how

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Speaker 1: much they enjoyed the show, but they really turned it

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Speaker 1: up when they introduced me to their kids, and their

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Speaker 1: nieces and nephews, and believe it or not, some of

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Speaker 1: their parents. It was all the same, regardless of the

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Speaker 1: demographic I was speaking to or the geographic location of

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Speaker 1: where I was doing. It from a man seeking to

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Speaker 1: find a better way of life for his family in

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Speaker 1: the new Country and the massive people I met and

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Speaker 1: watched in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the generational lineage of people

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Speaker 1: I met in Knoxville, Tennessee, a week earlier. That's right,

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Speaker 1: we're going backwards in time. Kids, Your old uncle Brin

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Speaker 1: has been making tracks these past few weeks. And a

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Speaker 1: week before I was in Pennsylvania, I had the dubious

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Speaker 1: honor of being a guest lecturer at the University of Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: Ronnie Cowan a wildlife biologist and professor at the ut

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Speaker 1: Institute of Agriculture. He invited me to speak to his

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Speaker 1: class on hunting heritage and how it connected with conservation.

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Speaker 1: I was surprised and flattered and humbled by the invitation.

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Speaker 1: Then the months of weeks leading up to being there,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie kept referring to the task God I'd agreed to

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Speaker 1: do as relaxed and basically an episode of the show.

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Speaker 1: Just talk about the stuff you talk about every week.

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Speaker 1: Simple enough, I can do that. I was scheduled to

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Speaker 1: speak in two sessions, one class on Monday and the

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Speaker 1: other on Wednesday. No worries. I got this. Talking is

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Speaker 1: what I do. Then, a couple hours into my trip

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Speaker 1: on Sunday, before the first class that was scheduled to

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Speaker 1: start the next morning, it was canceled due to the

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Speaker 1: snow and ice that had carpet bombed the South forty

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Speaker 1: years since the last time I'd attended a college class,

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Speaker 1: and I got a snow day. I was missing a

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Speaker 1: scheduled college class some things. Ronnie picked me up Monday

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Speaker 1: morning and took me to the campus to show me

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Speaker 1: the classroom where I should have been speaking that day

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Speaker 1: and would be speaking on Wednesday. Then we walked over

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Speaker 1: to the Dean's office, where I met a host of

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Speaker 1: ladies and administrative roles who run the Extension department, directed

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Speaker 1: by doctor Justin Riin Hart. Now being in Arkansas, man,

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Speaker 1: I thought it'd be fun to tease that group of

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Speaker 1: ladies I only just met, and it was fun for them.

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Speaker 1: I met my match quickly and one of them bested

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Speaker 1: my jabs with a knockout left hook. Reminded me that

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Speaker 1: they have a national championship in baseball. That was well played, missy.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Ryan Hart and I visited in his office about

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Speaker 1: growing up in the country and the things he did

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Speaker 1: in his early years of extension work. We talked about

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Speaker 1: my experiences with the Extension office and people who work

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Speaker 1: there in Arkansas. Then he made me a little nervous

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Speaker 1: by saying, doctor Keith Carver, the senior Vice Chancellor, is

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Speaker 1: looking forward to attending your lecture. Lecture. I never said

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Speaker 1: I was given a lecture. Lectures are what professors and

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Speaker 1: angry wife and parents give. I know this because I've

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Speaker 1: sat through countless numbers of them in all three categories.

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Speaker 1: This thing just got serious, and I'm having serious second

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Speaker 1: thoughts that I may not have prepared enough to do

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Speaker 1: this properly. Then he added that there would be other

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Speaker 1: faculty members and guests and attendance. I couldn't wait to

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Speaker 1: get back to the hotel so I could jump out

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Speaker 1: the window of my eleventh floor room. Friently. You took

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Speaker 1: this assignment far too lightly, and not only are you

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Speaker 1: going to embarrass yourself and meet either, but miss it

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Speaker 1: from the dean's office is going to make me cry

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Speaker 1: the next time she seized me. That night at supper,

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Speaker 1: Ronnie and his wife Page and their daughter Emory treated

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Speaker 1: me to some good groceries down at Calhoun's on the River.

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Speaker 1: If you're in Knoxville, I highly recommend it. Doctor Reinhard

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Speaker 1: joined us well, and I was feeling more and more

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Speaker 1: at ease with my new contingent of friends, even though

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Speaker 1: that lecture thing was still nagging away in the recesses

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Speaker 1: of my brain. These were good people, and I felt

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Speaker 1: as if I'd still be able to count them as friends.

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Speaker 1: After I crashed and burned in the classroom the day

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Speaker 1: after tomorrow, and they all looked at me collectively and said,

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Speaker 1: bless it's heart. Tuesday morning started off early with coffee

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Speaker 1: and a ride with doctor Reinhardt, who by now, at

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Speaker 1: his request, had become just good old Justin as we

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Speaker 1: shared similar stories of our upbringing and affinity for bird dogs.

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Speaker 1: We met Ronnie at a predetermined location and followed him

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Speaker 1: out to the ancestral home of Elias Crawford. Now, the

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Speaker 1: snow was heavy and blanketed the hills a brilliant white

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Speaker 1: and clearly visible through the leafless hardwoods that rose eleven

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Speaker 1: hundred feet above sea level in Severe County, Tennessee. They're

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Speaker 1: the family built cabin made from hand hewn logs, waited

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Speaker 1: a lie, his wife, Victoria, and Sage. There are three

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Speaker 1: year old, half pint sized and oven of a daughter

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Speaker 1: who was about to come my new bestest friend, Elius

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Speaker 1: had a smoke going in the wood stove, and we

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Speaker 1: introduced ourselves and got better acquainted while warming up and

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Speaker 1: sharing a pot of coffee. Now, the reason for our

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Speaker 1: visit was for writing to show me part of the

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Speaker 1: curriculum and the demonstrations he does with his students by

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Speaker 1: going on a bird hunt. Now in the South, maybe

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Speaker 1: up north too, I don't know. But down here, when

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Speaker 1: you say bird hunt, everybody knows you mean quaill. These

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Speaker 1: weren't wild birds, but the gist of the exercise is

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Speaker 1: an introduction of hunting as part of conservation, and for

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Speaker 1: many of the wildlife science students that take Ronnie's course,

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Speaker 1: I was surprised to learn that a large percentage of

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Speaker 1: those students had never fired a gun until participating in

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Speaker 1: Ronnie's classes. They learned strict gun safety and are properly

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Speaker 1: educated on the use of firearms by certified instructors before

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Speaker 1: ever being taken to the field. The Crawford family graciously

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Speaker 1: hosts the students for this and other events, and Elias

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Speaker 1: is an integral part of helping each receive the best

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Speaker 1: experience possible, not not only demonstrating the time on a

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Speaker 1: tradition of hunting quail, but also how all three man

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Speaker 1: quail in the environment are also interconnected. That was what

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Speaker 1: Ronnie wanted me to address the following day in my

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Speaker 1: lecture that I had respectfully asked justin to refer to

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Speaker 1: a classroom visit so it might dampen some of my

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Speaker 1: anxiety about who all was going to be there. The

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Speaker 1: hours flew by, and I was up bright and early

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Speaker 1: the next morning preparing for class to start that afternoon.

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Speaker 1: I felt it important for me to get up early.

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Speaker 1: That way, I'd have as much time as possible to

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Speaker 1: stress about volunteering in the volunteer state to do an

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Speaker 1: upper class college level lecture being attended by the vice

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Speaker 1: chancellor the university. Then, as if by a judicial decree,

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Speaker 1: and with no governor's last minute reprieve, it was time

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Speaker 1: to hit toward the classroom, where literally tens of people

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Speaker 1: were as simple to what was loosely rumored to be

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Speaker 1: a lectured doctor. Keith Carver stood outside the door, centing

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Speaker 1: on for the education being provided to the students who

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Speaker 1: would eventually be forming statutes and laws. Governor and how

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Speaker 1: we interacted with the environment and its native is a

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Speaker 1: learned protector for all who studied there under his watch.

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Speaker 1: I thought to myself, really, this is your last chance

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Speaker 1: to run away, because just like back in the old

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Speaker 1: swat days, once you make injury, it's mission first and

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Speaker 1: there's no turning back. I was as nervous as I've

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Speaker 1: ever been, and I never really get nervous, especially when

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about something I'm familiar with, and what they

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Speaker 1: wanted me to talk about is what I talk about

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Speaker 1: every week. So while was I nervous. I don't know,

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Speaker 1: but after doctor Carver introduced me to every important person

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Speaker 1: even remotely connected to the University of Tennessee's Institute of

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Speaker 1: Agriculture that would be attended my lecture, I was seriously

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Speaker 1: considered feigning a heart attack or having a real I

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Speaker 1: hadn't made up my mind at that point either way.

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Speaker 1: I was about to be leaving on a stretcher. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's get started. Wait a minute, who said that, Ronnie?

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Speaker 1: That gumt, Ronnie, we're really going to do this. I

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Speaker 1: blacked out partially during Ronnie's introduction to me, and came

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Speaker 1: to about ten minutes into my lecture. I was doing

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Speaker 1: pretty good. I assumed everyone appeared to be awake and

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Speaker 1: paying attention. Well, that mean they ain't chunking nothing at me.

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Speaker 1: And regardless, the more I talked, the more I relaxed

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Speaker 1: and enjoyed it. Two thirds of my presentation was just

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Speaker 1: me bumping my gums about my life and experiences with

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Speaker 1: sporadic moments of clarity. And then I opened up the

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Speaker 1: floor to anyone who wanted to ask a question, and

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Speaker 1: that's when we really started communicating. I was more than

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Speaker 1: impressed by Ronnie's students. A few had actually reached out

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Speaker 1: to me on social media long before I'd ever been

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Speaker 1: invited to speak there. One couple, Rusty and Alexis, both

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Speaker 1: students of Ronnie's, are engaged to be married. I remembered

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Speaker 1: him reaching out telling me about the engagement and me saying,

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Speaker 1: I prefer an Alexis over any other. And I met

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Speaker 1: another student, Russell White, who's getting ready to graduate before

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Speaker 1: long with his degree. He went to college after being

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Speaker 1: in the service, and he said he was led to

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Speaker 1: go into wildlife management after listening to this country life

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Speaker 1: and how I talked about my love for wild things.

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Speaker 1: That was a humbling moment and one I didn't take

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Speaker 1: lightly or have stopped thinking about the impact that we

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Speaker 1: all have on each other. I don't want to wish

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Speaker 1: Rusty Is, Alexis and Russell and all the students that

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Speaker 1: I met there that day the best of luck in

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Speaker 1: their careers. The rest of you need to know that

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Speaker 1: the Institute of Agriculture at the University of Tennessee is

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Speaker 1: doing some great things and some great people are behind it.

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Speaker 1: Keith Carver, Justin Reinhart, and Ronnie Cowan and my favorite

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Speaker 1: Balls fans, Missy Kitts, just to name a few. I'd

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Speaker 1: be remiss if I didn't mention a couple of ladies

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Speaker 1: that I met in doctor Reinhart's office, Dawn and Ashley.

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Speaker 1: These ladies compiled a huge box of swag from the

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Speaker 1: university and they send it to our house. I get

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Speaker 1: packages all the time, but when I saw it was

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Speaker 1: from the Agon Institute, I knew it was going to

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Speaker 1: be something really good. I opened it up and there

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Speaker 1: was an envelope with a card addressed to me, and

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Speaker 1: on the outside of the envelope it read, this card

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Speaker 1: is for Brent, the rest is for Bailey. I opened

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Speaker 1: the card and I read a very heartfelt thanks from

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Speaker 1: doctor Justin Reinhart. Then, addressed to Bailey was this note, Bailey,

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Speaker 1: we know that you're a razorback at heart, and rightfully so,

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Speaker 1: but we would like to stend an invitation for you

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Speaker 1: to visit the University of Tennessee when the time comes

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Speaker 1: for you to pick your college. Now, how cool is that?

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Speaker 1: I can tell you. Bailey thought he was very cool.

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Speaker 1: That's how I've spent the last few weeks traveling back

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Speaker 1: and forth across the eastern half of this country, visiting

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Speaker 1: old friends, and making new ones. And one of my

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Speaker 1: trips in and around Tennessee, I was asked to speak

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Speaker 1: at the store More Dealer summ at Nashville. Now, this

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Speaker 1: convention was for the company dealers that sell the buildings

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Speaker 1: like the one I have where I'm currently recording this podcast,

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Speaker 1: you know, the store More Studio. I would arrive late

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Speaker 1: in the evening and get up the next morning, have

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Speaker 1: a cup of Joe, and speak for fifteen minutes to

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Speaker 1: all the good folks on behalf of the owners of

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Speaker 1: the company. Then I'd be on my way to the

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Speaker 1: next event, which, for the sake of clarity, was the

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Speaker 1: trip I talked about in Pennsylvania. I'm not purposely trying

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Speaker 1: to confuse you. It just comes naturally to me anyway.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't there long, or as my grandmother used to

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Speaker 1: say in reference and a quick turnaround, that lasted about

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Speaker 1: as long as John did in the army. Now, I

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Speaker 1: never knew who John was or why he left the

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Speaker 1: army so quickly, but that would accurately described how long

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Speaker 1: I was with the folks at the store More and

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Speaker 1: More's the pity we've gotten to know them over these

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Speaker 1: last few months. The owner and CEO Darren. Warren's story

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Speaker 1: is phenomenal, and I've talked before about how he turned

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Speaker 1: about with childhood cancer into a philanthropy for the folks

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Speaker 1: that helped heal him at Saint Jude's Hospitals, so they

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Speaker 1: in turn can help others. Daring's a master family within

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Speaker 1: that business that I for want him happy to have

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Speaker 1: been adopted into. Graham and Kevin, Caitlin, my new friend

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Speaker 1: John and so many others that take pride in what

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Speaker 1: they do and serving others. And that's something I can

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Speaker 1: get behind if you think about it. All the things

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Speaker 1: I've talked about in this episode is about those kinds

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Speaker 1: of people, from the Uber driver to the students at

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Speaker 1: the University of Tennessee, all of them, in some capacities

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Speaker 1: are or will be serving others, either directly or indirectly.

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Speaker 1: American novelist Henry Miller said one's destination is never a place,

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Speaker 1: but a new way of seeing things. With even the

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Speaker 1: smallest amount of imagination, we can all find that connection

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Speaker 1: between what we do and serving others, even if it's

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Speaker 1: just a weekly attempt at making you smile and want

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Speaker 1: me to feel it home. Thank you so much for listening.

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Speaker 1: Until next time week. This is Brent Reeves, sign it off, y'all.

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Speaker 1: We careful