As I recalled what happened 12 years ago, I recalled an agreement.

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As I recalled the winners over the first eleven seasons, it occurred to me that all but one is from the new Heartland.

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And I recalled as I thought, went through the day, that there was an agreement.

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As we drove through the early morning streets, with hundreds of sleeping bodies lined up on the pavements as if for burial, I recalled the other passage from The Four Quartets that I love and always re-read.

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But to support herself, "I started working as a bartender, " she recalled.

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As many times as I recall, and all of you who are not family members like me, have recalled this incident time and again over the last 10 years, I never fail to be astonished, literally astonished by the courage they demonstrated.

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The staff nimbly handled my requests, a bartender graciously accommodated my curveball order of a "nonsweet Mojito, " and a spa front desk attendant called me "milady" as he asked my slipper size--an unscripted moment that was even sweeter when I recalled my first visit.

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As we considered ways we to get congressional staffers to know our name and maybe even like us, I recalled all those young people who had passed through my office.

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"I was told it was touch and go at one point - apparently if I'd have got to hospital two minutes later I'd have been dead, " said the 25-year-old Norwich DJ, as he recalled his horrific accident in July 2011.

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