June 21, 2026

“Darn Precious,” A Father's Day Story of Perseverance and Humor

“Darn Precious,” A Father's Day Story of Perseverance and Humor
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In this special Father’s Day edition of The Dave Carter Program, Dave Carter shares a heartfelt tribute to fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, reflecting on the legacy of the men who shaped his life. Through warm memories, vivid storytelling, and a deep sense of gratitude, Dave honors the wisdom, humor, and resilience passed down through generations.

This episode is a moving Father’s Day reflection on family, memory, and the lasting influence of the men who lead by example. At the center of the episode is Dave’s beloved paternal grandfather, D.P. “Darn Precious” Carter, whose quick wit, easygoing spirit, and unforgettable personality left a lasting impression on everyone around him. Dave recalls childhood stories, family jokes, and the kind of mischief that only a truly memorable grandfather could inspire, while also honoring the hard truths of a life shaped by poverty, military service, and perseverance. From the Pacific theater of World War II to a lifetime of providing for his family, Grandpa Carter’s story is one of strength, humor, and enduring love.

This Father’s Day episode captures the spirit of remembrance and celebration, reminding listeners to cherish the lessons, laughter, and sacrifices of the fathers and grandfathers who came before us. With thoughtful narration and deeply personal reflections, Dave Carter invites listeners to slow down and appreciate the gift of family, the power of perspective, and the beauty of everyday life. All of the music in this episode is part of a growing collection of compositions by Dave Carter.

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Welcome to this special Father's Day edition of The Dave

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Carter Show, featuring the story of Darn Precious, a World

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War II veteran, son of a sharecropper and a man

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who faced life's hardest blows. He retained a joyful spirit,

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a twinkle in his eye, and a contagiously playful humor.

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His love of life inspired those around him, including his grandson.

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Your host, I.

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Am Dave Carter, and I am delighted to welcome you

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to this very special Father's Day edition of the Dave

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Carter Program. First of all, Happy Father's Day to all

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the dads and granddads, great granddads. Ah, this is your day,

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and whether the kids are with you today, or whether

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you're the kids are all grown and gone, or whether

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you're deployed and the kids aren't with you today. For

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that reason, regardless, we celebrate you today. Happy Father's Day. Now,

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I had intended not to eat. I'm not intended to

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do this until this morning. I was enjoying a quiet

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moment spent with coffee in my own memories of the

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men in my family and the examples that they said,

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his father, his grandfather's and even the great grandfather and

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the one great great grandfather, who I was lucky enough

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to know as a child. But it's my paternal grandfather

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that I remember the most. I think lately he stays

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with me more often these days. He went by the

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name DP, mainly because the name delmer Percy just didn't

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land the right way in his mind. It was like

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nails on a chalkboard, or like gumbo without potato sound.

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I guess just what isn't quite right? So it was DP.

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And when someone asked him what that stood for, well,

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he said it was so for darn precious, so they

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called him precious. Of course, when you know, whenever I

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hear Louis Armstrong, I'm often reminded of Grandpa Carter. And

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why is that? Well, like old Satchmo, Grandpa lived through

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circumstances that would break lesser men, and came through with

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a contagious smile, an easy growing and mischievous humor that

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inspires me, at least to this day. In fact, as

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time goes by and the clock keeps ticking, I find

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myself more drawn out to Grandpa's life and his example.

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So many memories, you know, in days like this is

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a circle of life keeps moving ever, evolving get always

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following the similar cadence of the seasons. I think that

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if one were to take this view from thirty thousand

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feet for too long, it would lead to a state

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of pairing fear, because from this remove you can see

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how the seemingly smallest decisions that are taken in haste

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going to have ripple effects whose reverberations changed the course

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of events, not only for the decision maker, but for

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the lives of generations to come. It's simultaneously it'shilating and unterrifying.

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But I suppose it's best to view this just for

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just a moment, just to realize how nothing in human

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affairs truly happens in a vacuum, and then land the

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thing back on the ground again, all with life in

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a more wise and sense, of course, but never forgetting

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to live in the moment, to enjoy that stack of

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pancakes and syrup, or a laugh, or a good coffee

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and the sunrise. One of the things I treasure most

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about my Dean Martin. Like Crampaull, Carter was as easy

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going nature, but it was tempered by wisdom, experience, and

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yes he never went through life without that twinkle in

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his eyes. As far as I could tell, it allowed

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him to keep them, taking himself for life too seriously,

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and he's been a role more so lately. He was

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the sharecropper's son, a son of Louisiana, who would know

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the words Stoic from Stork. Yet he embodied the immoable

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realism and perspective of the Stoics, but with a Louis

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Armstrong type ebullience that treasured every day of breath as

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a gift. Once I'd been in the military for a while,

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he showed me his photo album from World War Two.

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He served in the Pacific. Some of the photographs were

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just basic boilerplate photos of the Orient, but there were others.

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He passed along his Japanese seven point seven millimeters rifle,

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having retrieved it from a Japanese soldier who no longer

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needed it. Some of those photos the graphic, some showing bodies,

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blackened bodies of Japanese soldiers still in their defensive holes

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in the ground, incinerated teeth in a ghastly grin, framed

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by leathery black lips, and still gripping their rifles. The

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images are seared in my mind, and I know that

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they never left Grandpa Carter's mind either. That easygoing countenance

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didn't come to Grandpa easily. Years later, he would write

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about his own little his own autobiographal Essay, and he

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wrote jokingly about growing up in a family of twelve

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or so children. Quote, he said, we were so poor

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that even the poor people called us poor. Unquote. There

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was no glass in the windows of the little dwelling.

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He bragged that sweeping the floor was made more easy

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because you could just sweep the dirt through the holes

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in the floor and back to the ground where it

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came from. He was a practical joker all his life.

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He told me about the time his father was taking

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a nap on a Sunday afternoon in his hammock. Hard

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working man. His father died in his thirties, but his

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dad was taking a nap on the hammock and little Delmer,

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whom his dad called Pakoo, well, little Pico, dipped his

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father's fingertips in chicken poop, and then he tickled his

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father's nose with a feather. What happened, I asked, and

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Grandpa said, well, he wrote that all over his face

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through tears of laughter. I said, well, what happened. Next,

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he said, well, I caught my ass beat. He's barely

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able to complete the sentence through all the laughter. In fact,

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one of the best things about Grandpa's stories, especially as jokes,

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are the many times he couldn't even deliver the punchline

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because he couldn't stop laughing at the jokes ending long

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enough to deliver it. Little Delmer was the youngest one

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in the litter and just could not stop playing jokes.

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His older brother, Robert was set to go courting one evening.

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As he used to call it, he's going to go

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meet his girlfriend's family. So Uncle Robert had taken his

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suit coat and laid it out on the bed to

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get it ready for that evening. Well, little Pikou Grandpa

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looked at his brother's handkerchief in the breast pocket of

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that suit jacket, and he took that handkerchief to the kitchen,

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laid it out on the table, and then placed a

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chunk of his mom's corn bread in the middle of

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the handkerchief. Then he gathered handkerchief up on the four

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corners and whacked it on the table a few times,

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breaking the corn bread in the tiny crumbs, before carefully

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placing the handkerchief back in his brother's breast pocket. Later

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that night, predictably, when he had to sneeze, Robert yanked

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that handkerchief out of the pocket and every one in

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the room got showered by cornbread crumbs that fell like

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man made manna from the sky. The little picku evaded

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the ass beating because he could outrun his older brother

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and hide in the woods, just another day with little

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Dorn precious. Now, if you think about this, this wasn't

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an impulse prank. Okay, this was premeditated. He had to

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think through the physics, break it into crumbs, not powder,

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so it still looked like a folded handkerchief. He understood.

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He understood the concept of a delayed fuse. He planted

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it hours before the detonation, and then just wait while

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his brother got dressed and left to go courting. Little

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delmer knew, absolutely knew what was coming. And then he

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escaped in the woods. That's the getaway part of the plan. Folks.

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That's not just Memphis. I'm sorry, that's not just mischief.

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That's a borderline criminal mind applied to comedy. The man

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knew hardshiped from the depression from growing up dirt poor,

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jewed by society, banned by society's poor people as even

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more poor. He knew the grizzly reality of World War

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Two in the Pacific theater of operations, and he also

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knew what being part of the Japanese occupation force was like.

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Then he came home from war and worked as tail

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off for decades, providing a stable home not posh by

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any means, but a stable home for everyone, including for

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his children, my dad, my aunt, including him and Grandma.

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So yes, he endured things that would break many a man,

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but he emerged stronger and even more and even and

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even even better humor than anyone I've ever known. Personally,

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I miss him terribly, I really do. But he's here

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with me every day, and I quietly look for his

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guidance in my own life, watching and learning from the

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steady and happy influence of that unfailingly cheerful Gentlemen. It's

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a good story, It's true, and I cherish it. Happy

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Father's Day, folks.

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Hussy skies of blue and clouds of white, It's a

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blessed day.

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Old such molds rayed.

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By you, winds whisper through the.

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Moss draped trees, heritage of strength, carried on the breeze

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from the cradle. We're given this gift, so grand roots

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running deep.

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In this beautiful land, And I think to myself.

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What a want of fool, What a wonderful life?

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Seasons steady and true.

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Under Heaven's kind light. I hear babies laughter, the pure

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sound it echoes through the years.

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Lifting hearts soul around. Children take the torch with curious eyes.

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Grandkids chase dreams beneath those blue skies. They're build in

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their soul.

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To places unknown, doing wonders, wield cheers.

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From our heavenly hall.

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And I think to myself, what a wander forld.

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Word, a wonder for life. Passing the flame hand a

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hand through the wonder of time. The sunrise paints, hoping

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and rows.

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The new day, unfolding.

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Where anything grows.

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And when the blessed sunset kisses the sea, it whispers

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well done.

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And sets our hearts free. Through laughter and labor, through.

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Joy, and through tears, these steady seasons.

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Carry us through the years.

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We stand on the shoulders of those who came before.

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We're laugh in our hearts.

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And faith that our cold the circle keeps turning The

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song carries on from the first breath of life to

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the last setting.

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Sun, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

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Yeah, I think to myself.

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What a wonderful

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Lif