[0:00]My mom would beat all my sporting events. Let's say I was playing football, okay? My mother would be on the sidelines, and at the play on the field start going one way, My mother would run along like, Mike, get up, get up. I'd be like, oh my gosh. I'd get in the huddle with the other guys, they go, Mike, Is that your mother? I go, No, I never saw her before in my life. The greatest gift my mother ever gave me, she believed in me. I overdosed on drugs on three occasions where I should have been dead. But I believe I was kept here for a reason. You show me your friends, I will show you your future. How do I know this? I hung out with losers and I became the biggest loser of them all because I gave up everything I dreamt about as a little boy. Because of who I chose to surround myself with. My friends would drive me home at two, three, four in the morning. We'd be drunk and high, laughing in the car. We pull up in front of my house in New York, they go, Mike, Mike, the light's on. I go, oh man, my mother's up. See, my mom wouldn't go to bed until she knew her son was still alive. I'd walk and she'd say, hi, Mark. How was your night? I go, it's good, mom. I'm just going to go to bed. She says, can I, can I talk to you for a minute? I go, mom, I'm tired. I'm just going to go to bed. She goes, Mark, I haven't seen you all day and all night. Can I please talk to you? I said, man, Just leave me alone. You bug me. I'd slam my bedroom door. I'm the one person who believed in me. I was on a worldwide tour and we were wrestling overseas in Japan. After my wrestling match, I went upstairs in my hotel room and I fell asleep. There was a knock on my door at 3:00 in the morning. I got out of bed and I looked through the safety window and I could see it was a Japanese promoter. So I opened the door and he said, Mark, you need to call home. There's been an emergency. I went and got the hotel room phone. I called back to the United States and said, hey, what's going on? They said, Mark, I don't know how to tell you this. I said, just tell me what happened. All of a sudden they started crying and they go, Mark, I can't tell you. I said, just say it. They said, Mark, Your mother died.
[2:19]I just threw the phone down. I ran out of my hotel room. I took the elevator to the lobby and when the doors opened up, I just ran out into the street. I mean, there was no cars, there was no people at 3:00 in the morning. And I walked down the middle of a street in Hiroshima, Japan. And I remember looking up and just saying, mom, I am so sorry. I flew home for her funeral. And I was so nervous to walk up to her casket, so I just stood way in the back. And I kept looking from a distance. I kept thinking to myself, mom, please wake up. Please get up. And then I finally got the nerve to walk up to her. And as I got closer, I could see my mom for the first time. I mean, she was so beautiful. She, she was dressed in white. I mean, She looked like an angel. And I just stood over her and I said, mom, you are my hero. Everything I am, everything I hope to be was because of you. You loved me so much. You gave me a life. You're the only one that ever believed in me. How did I repay her? By getting drunk, by getting high, by getting stupid, by hanging out with losers. For what? All she ever wanted to do was talk to me. I wish I could talk to you now, mom. I wish you could see what I'm doing. Why couldn't I have been a better son? We are defined by our choices. But if you surround yourself with people involved in drugs and alcohol and pills, it's a dead end. I'm not here to preach to you. I'm here to tell you I lived that life. It leads to broken hearts, broken relationships, broken dreams, and death. For what? To get high? If you have a mother or a father, when you go home, tell them how much you love them. 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 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 of life is. And our families. And how quickly it could be taken away. See, I no longer live in time. I live in moments. 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 it meaning. You're the meaning.
