Description of the video:
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I was leaning up against a an old
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sycamore tree and I was near a creek
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deep in the woods and that wasn't far
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from Helms Berger out in Brown County
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Indiana and it was this beautiful
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beautiful day the Sun was shining the
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sky was blue and was cool out it was
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just just gorgeous and as I stood there
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my friend Ed Wagler came over and
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grabbed me by the arm and he said Jeff I
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think we should pray and we prayed and
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then I gave a Edda hug and I quickly got
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over to my car and drove up about half
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mile to the cabin that September that's
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my wife September and I had rented up
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there near Friendship cabin road and
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walked in through the door in the cabin
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and I hugged September and then I called
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my Fred Jeff my friend John land Vil who
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was at 40 Wall Street in New York City
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and phone rang he answered and before I
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could say anything he said hey Jeff
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what's going on and I said started to
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say something and he cut me off and he
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said I think there's a parade today
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there's ticker-tape coming down and
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about that time September had the TV on
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in the cabin and that's about the time
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at about nine o'clock 903 that the
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second airplane hit the South Tower at
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the World Trade Center and I told Judd
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what happened and I got off the phone
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and we started to pack up and if we
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could just we'll hit the pause button
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right there and I'll take you back
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twenty-eight years before that and about
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twenty-eight years before that
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what was that September it was 1973
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right 1973 September and I were seniors
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at Carmel High School and
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after putting me through my paces for
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several months September decided to let
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me be her boyfriend and I thought that
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was really great and I was on cloud nine
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there for a few months and I will tell
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you though we were different that we had
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very different backgrounds because
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September's family was one of the
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founding families of Carmel right so she
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was several generations in and she had
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lived in the same house on the same
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Street actually Main Street in Carmel
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for her whole life and I on the other
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hand had moved to Carmel with my family
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when I started high school and my five
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brothers and sisters like to tell people
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about how we had all grown up and been
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born in different cities in different
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states from Nebraska and Idaho to New
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York and West Virginia and then finally
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to Indiana so we had a different sense
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of home and we had a different sense of
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place and being in that kind of thing
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but I sure was crazy about her that
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worked out for me and as soon as we
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graduated I was 17 I went to school at
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Annapolis and I was determined to become
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a naval aviator and at that point I
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think September was determined to make
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sure that we got married by when I got
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out of Annapolis so we we got engaged
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because that's what people did back in
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the 70s right if they fell in love young
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people actually planned on getting
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married and and so three days after I
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graduated we went back to Indiana and we
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got married in Carmel on Main Street in
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the backyard of the house that September
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grew up in and I think that was about
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the best place we could have done that
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but after that we left the next day and
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we didn't really stop traveling for
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about 23 years we we lived several
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places in the country from Georgia to
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Texas Florida and just all over ended up
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in Atlanta but every year for those 23
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years
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we would come back to Indiana visit and
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in fact every Christmas we'd come back
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and we did that because it was important
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to September and important for her to
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know that her three kids our three kids
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had a sense of place and being and a
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place to come back to and that was
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Carmel Indiana at that house on Main
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Street and that worked out for us and at
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one point I can remember we were living
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in Atlanta my second daughter was a
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senior in high school and she said dad
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I've been to I've attended 11 schools
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and I think this one should be the last
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so so we worked that out she graduated
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there in Atlanta and then she ended up
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that Hanover College with my other
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daughter Megan and they both graduated
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from Hanover but come along come along a
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few years there so now it's 2001 and
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I've got an office in New York City I've
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got an office in Atlanta and if you were
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one of the thousands of people that year
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who got an American Express corporate
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card you got a letter from American
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Express signed by me welcoming you to
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American Express and promising you that
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we would provide you the best travel
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services that you could get anywhere in
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the world that you could be confident
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that if anything ever went wrong or
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anything ever happened you'd be able to
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get to an American Express office and
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we'd be able to help you and I feel good
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about that felt good about that so
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you're probably wondering how I ended up
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and or how September and I ended up in
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Brown County on September 11th in 2001
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well pretty simple really over the years
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all those visits back to Indiana we of
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course we visited Brown County and we
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ended up buying some property on
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Helzberg Road we call that property
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September's for us now it's about 64
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acres of beautiful woods beautiful place
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and in 2001 we thought we could build a
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cabin
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on that property and have a vacation
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have a cabin so that when we came to
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visit in Indiana we'd have a place to
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stay and I convinced September that
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before we built the cabin we needed to
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dig a big pond that way we'd have a
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better idea where the cabins should be
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on the property and I don't think I
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really convinced September that but she
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allowed me that notion that she she let
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me get started on the pond so it was
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about September 4th when a guy named ed
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Wagler who I mentioned earlier in the
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story called me up and he said Jeff he
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said I'm gonna start on your pond on
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Monday and if you get you get up here to
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Brown County we'll walk the property
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we'll get up at sunrise and we'll take a
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look around and things go well let you
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drive the excavator because I've seen
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you I and the excavator and I know you
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want to drive it so I thought about it
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for a minute and I said you know ed I
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really wish I could but I'm sorry I'm
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too busy and I've got a meeting in New
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York City that morning and I remember
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that he paused and just for a second and
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then he said he said yes sir
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that sounds important and he paused
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again and then he said but if you change
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your mind if you change your mind I'll
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be out there and you know the rest of
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the day I thought about that and I
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thought about him saying if you change
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your mind I'll be out there and and I
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thought about it enough and finally I uh
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I decided I'd changed my mind
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and I called my boss in New York Judd
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and I said you know Judd I never do this
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but I think I'm gonna miss that meeting
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in New York on Monday morning he said he
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said well Jeff if you think that's
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important and that's what he said he
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said if you think that's important to
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miss the meeting that's fine with me you
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just call in whenever you want and I did
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that and then I told September we were
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going to go to back to Indiana for the
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weekend and
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we can't we flew up to Indianapolis and
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then we came down to Brown County had
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this wonderful weekend wonderful weekend
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beautiful weather great time and then
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that Monday morning I went over to the
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property and I got with it and we walked
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the property and we looked at where the
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pond would be and you know it was just
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just this wonderful beautiful blue sky
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morning and then I was leaning up
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against that sycamore tree and standing
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there near the creek and felt that old
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flip phone in my pocket vibrate and I
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got it out and sure enough it was
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September and I answered the phone as
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she said she said Jeff an airplane just
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flew into the North Tower of the World
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Trade Center and that's when it grabbed
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me and said Jeff I think we ought to
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pray and we did and the rest of the day
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we drove back to Atlanta and really
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September did quite a bit of the driving
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and I called the rest of my teammates
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who weren't in New York City and we
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tried to fill that promise that we
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talked about we actually had literally
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thousands and thousands of business
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travelers out all over the world when
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when that happened and all of them were
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stuck because there were no airplanes
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flying there was nobody going anywhere
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because nobody knew what was going to
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happen next it was it was if you were
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there and you can remember it was a
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remarkable time a terrible time and
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believe it or not in about 17 hours we
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found everybody we knew where they were
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and we were able to either get them a
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place to stay or extend their stay or or
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help them contact the people that they
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needed to contact and make sure that
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they knew they were okay and we felt
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good about that like I said felt good
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next weeks and months were a little bit
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different because we we had lost
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several colleagues in the World Trade
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Center and we celebrated their lives and
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we also had to move the headquarters of
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American Express to New Jersey we had to
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take take everybody out of the world
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financial center where our headquarters
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was well that building was rebuilt and
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that was a big deal so you know I heard
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what Letty said about when she was
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talking about that moment when she and
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Dell were looking over that scenic Vista
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and I think she said there was no you
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know like one moment or no magic moment
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or particular epiphany and I can tell
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you for for me and I think for September
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that was true - I don't think we had
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this big this big moment where we
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decided of the world's change that we're
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going to change their lives I think that
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I think we just understood it so we
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didn't have this big conversation about
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what to do next or or you know how the
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world was changing we just knew that we
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needed to change with the world and we
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decided then that we would that that
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vacation cabin we could we're gonna
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build could be our permanent home and my
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son Ian is sitting right over there
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Ian was in the 8th grade he's awful
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young for his advanced stage now right
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awful young looking but but anyway we
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went to unit said Ian would you like to
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go to school in Brown County with about
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what 3 or 400 classmates or would you
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like to to go to high school here in
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Alpharetta Georgia in the suburb of
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Atlanta with about 3,000 classmates and
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he jumped right on that idea to go to
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Brown County and so by the time school
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was out or that when school started
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in September of 2002 we had moved back
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in he had started school in Brown County
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and they called him Georgia for a few
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years and eventually they forgot about
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that though didn't they right you became
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a just a regular Brown County guy but we
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made that move
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and fast-forward to today
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right so for the last 15 years my wife
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September who is sitting over there
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behind Ian has been a volunteer fireman
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and a assistant fire chief and a first
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responder in Brown County and she and
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her mom who's sitting beside her over
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there who is also a fireman and is still
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on the fire department at 89 years old
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[Applause]
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have touched the lives of hundreds of
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people in Brown County at the worst
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moments and and I think helped a little
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right or maybe helped a lot and they
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found a place and we feel really good
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about that and for me for the last 10
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years I have been doing this thing with
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my family and friends that this big
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adventure that we call Big Woods and now
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hard truth hills and that kind of stuff
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and for me it's been a dream because and
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the biggest adventure because we're
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building an enterprise but we're
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building a culture right we're building
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kind of a kind of a thing there that
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kind of transcends the business part of
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it and it's more about the experience
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that we help people have when they come
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to visit Brown County so it's a
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wonderful thing and I can tell you that
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I still go visit that big old sycamore
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tree a lot and I think about these
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things and I stand there as a creek and
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I'm there in the deep woods that we call
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September's for us now and I'm thankful
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for every minute and every day that
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we're here and I'm really proud to be
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from Indiana and to be a Hoosier and to
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have the wonderful family and friends
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that I do and thank you for letting me
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be here tonight
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you
English (auto-generated)
