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My mom would be at all my sporting events.
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Let's say I was playing football, ok?
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My mother would be on the sidelines
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and if the play on the field would start
going one way, my mother would start
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going like "MIKE, GET EM! GET EM!"
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And I'd be like, "Oh, my gosh."
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I'd get in a huddle with the other guys,
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they'd go, "Mark, is that your mother?"
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I'd go, "No, I never saw her before in
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my life."
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See, the greatest gift
-
my mother ever gave me?
-
- she believed in me. I have
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overdosed on drugs on 3 occasions where
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I should have been dead.
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But I believe I was kept here for a reason
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You show me your friends, I will show you
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your future. How do I know this?
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I hung out with losers, and I became the
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biggest loser of them all because I gave
up everything I dreamt about as a little
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boy because of who I chose to surround
myself with. My friends would drive me
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home at around 2, 3, 4 in the morning.
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We'd be drunk and high, laughing in the
car. We'd pull up in front of my house
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and they'd go, "Mark, Mark.
The lights on." I'd go, "Oh man, my
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mother's up." See, my mom wouldn't
go to bed until she knew her son was still
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alive. I'd walk in she'd say, "Hi Mark,
how was your night?" I'd go, "It was good
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Mom, I'm tired! I'm just gonna go to bed."
She goes, "Mark. I haven't seen you all
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day and all night. Can I please talk
to you." I says, "Man, just leave me
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alone. You bug me." I'd slam my bedroom
door. On the one person who believed in
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me. I was on a world wide tour when we
were wrestling overseas in Japan.
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After my wrestling match I went upstairs
in my hotel room and I fell asleep.
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There was a knock at my door at 3 o'
clock in the morning. I got out of bed
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and looked through the safety window
and I could see, it was a Japanese
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promoter. So I opened the door and he
says, "Mark, you need to call home.
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There's been an emergency." I went and
got on the hotel phone and I called back
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to the United States and I says, "Hey,
what's going on?" He said, "Mark, I don't
-
know how to tell you this." I said, "Just
tell me, what happened?" I almost started
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crying and they go, "Mark, I can't tell
you." I said, "Just say it."
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They said, "Mark. Your mother died."
I just threw the phone down.
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I ran out of my hotel room. I took the
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elevator to the lobby and when the doors
opened up, I just ran down to the street.
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I mean, there was no cars, there was no
peoples. 3 o'clock in the morning. And I
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walked down to the middle of the street
in Hiroshima, Japan and I remember
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looking up and just saying, "Mom. I am
so sorry." I flew home for her
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funeral, and I was so nervous to walk
up to her casket so I just stood way
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in the back. And I kept looking from a
distance, thinking to myself, Mom,
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please wake up. Please get up.
And then I finally got the nerve to walk
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up to her. And as I got closer, I could
see my mom for the first time. I mean,
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she was so beautiful. She was dressed in
white. I mean, she looked like an angel.
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And I just stood over her and I said,
"Mom. You are my hero. Everything
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I am and everything I hope to be was
because of you. You loved me so much
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you gave me a life. You're the only one
that ever believed in me." How'd I repay
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her? By getting drunk, by getting high,
by getting stupid, by hanging out
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with losers. For what? All she ever
wanted to do, was talk to me.
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I wish I could talk to you now, mom.
I wish you could see what I'm doing.
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Why couldn't I have been a better son?
We are defined by our choices.
-
but if you surround yourself by people
involved with drugs and alcohol
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and pills. It's a dead end. I'm not here
to preach to ya. I'm here to tell you
-
I lived that life. It leads to broken
hearts, broken relationships, broken
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dreams and death. For what? To get
high? If you have a mother or a father
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when you go home, tell 'em how much you
love 'em. See, my whole life was about
-
being rich and famous. I had to be a
millionaire. I had to win the race.
-
I had to win the race at the expense
of my marriage, my family, my friends.
-
For what? To be all alone in the world?
I learned what is truly important.
-
And that is, how precious this gift
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of life is, and our families, and how
quickly it can be taken away. See,
-
I now longer live in time, I live in the
moment. See, it's not what's in your
-
pocket that matters. It's what's in your
heart that truly matters.
-
Love. Love is just a word. Until
somebody comes along and gives
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it meaning. You. You're the meaning.