[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 18] [Senate] [Page 23752] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]LAST FAREWELL Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we were able to finish up our work in a very successful way before we leave for the year. We passed a continuing funding resolution, the critical tax extenders package, and a number of important legislative items, as well as a list of executive nominations. We have had a long week--a productive week--and I do want to thank all my colleagues for their patience and their dedicated efforts. As we close, I also want to thank all of the staff at the desk and those in the offices above this Chamber and below this Chamber who will be here long after we adjourn, preparing and finalizing all of the business we have just completed. I would be remiss if I did not recognize the pages who are with us tonight, and those who are not with us tonight, but those who have all left their home States to come to Washington for the semester to work in this Chamber. We thank each and every one of you for your tremendous, tremendous work. It is 4:34 a.m. now, and we have finished a long day, and people always laugh when I say being Senate majority leader is like doing heart transplants. But times like this make it all very clear that they are very similar because at about 4:34 a.m. in the morning, we would be putting those last few stitches in the transplanted heart. And as you do that, you begin to feel that anticipation of that heart, all of a sudden starting to beat again and coming alive, which gives new life and rebirth to an individual who would otherwise die. I say that because that is what I would be doing if I were not here, and I was doing 12, 13 years ago. I may well be doing it next year. But that sort of change is good. And change can be, as I said yesterday, constructive. It can be rebirth. And it can give real hope. I gave my formal remarks on leaving the Senate yesterday, but the words I speak over the next 2 minutes are the very last I will ever give in this Chamber. In 2 minutes, maybe less, that door closes, and the chapter ends. After I gave my farewell address yesterday, I had dinner last night with Karyn and with my three boys, Jonathan, Bryan, and Harrison, who had all come back to hear my farewell address yesterday. They had to fly in from New York, take a train from New Jersey, and come up from Tennessee. And because we are empty nesters, they are all out of the house now. It is getting increasingly rare that we are all together. But one of the things we did last night is we sat around a table--it happened to be at a restaurant--and thought a little bit about past experiences. And you can imagine how their lives have changed over 12 years. We knew this night would come, this final minute or so would come, for a long time. I have known for 12 years, and that is the normal life cycle that one can expect if you are a citizen legislator, which I have said again and again that is what I tried to be in self- limiting my period here in the Senate. But over that period, we have seen these three young boys--all very young--grow into three robust young men. I have seen a wife grow more beautiful by the day. I have seen a relationship of family, and a relationship between a husband and a wife, grow stronger over these 12 years through this opportunity the people of Tennessee have given me and Karyn and my three boys to serve them. I have seen faith strengthened and challenged by the responsibility the people of Tennessee give us as elected officials when they select us to represent their hopes and their dreams. I have also seen in this body, in watching my colleagues and being with my colleagues, a group of men and a group of women who are very good people, with good intentions, who are unselfish, who are people of faith, people of vision, people with real dreams, not perfect, as we all know--and we all have our foibles, and we all have our weaknesses-- but people who are good. My dad always used to say: ``Good people beget good people.'' ``Good people beget good people.'' And I think that as we go through periods of change here, we can have that tradition of good people in this body begetting good people to continue. I will close, again quoting from Dad's letter I mentioned yesterday that he wrote to future generations prior to his death. I mentioned yesterday that that is a great thing for all of us to do later in life. What advice would you give people you will never see a generation or two generations later? I will close with his words from that same letter. This was after a list of things he wrote, giving his counsel and advice--very simple things, by the way, commonsense things. He said: Finally, I believe it is so terribly important in life to stay humble. Use your talents wisely and use other people's talents to help other people. ``Help other people.'' ____________________