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Hey, thanks for being a part
of the conversation. This is Forest Stories.

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I am the Poet in the Forest, a children's series that I pinned

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out in the nineteen nineties. Now, none of it would be possible if

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it wasn't for this forest right here
in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I

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talk about it so much that I
thought maybe it's time that you get to

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know what has inspired me for thirty
years. Thanks for being a part of

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the conversation. Welcome back to the
forest. Walking by Ron and Carroll's house

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a major fixture in the story of
this forest because they were one of the

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first, if not the first,
to choose to live within this collection of

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trees where you can see the beautiful
lake, the slow moving stream, and

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the most amazing colors year round,
especially fall. Ron and Carroll did something

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that was very special that really kind
of served as a beacon of light at

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the top of Heartbreak Hill. Heartbreak
Hill is a mighty hill, and it's

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design to do exactly that. Break
your heart. Oh, the rhythm of

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your heart is going to race before
you get to the top. And late

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at night, Ron and Carol would
shine a light through their living room window

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and it would say things like you're
almost there, don't give up, keep

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reaching although it's night inside this forest. Just know that we are here to

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serve you with this light so that
you can be guided in the right direction.

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The craziest thing about this light is
that when Ron and Carol transitioned,

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my wife and I made sure that
we had that light put in our dining

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room that overlooks this forest in South
Charlotte, the right to Carolina to also

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serve as the very beacon that Ron
and Carol wanted to bring to life on

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their part of the forest. Each
night, that light clicks on at six

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PM and it doesn't turn off until
sunrise. Anybody who walks into this forest

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at any time of the night knows
you're almost there. But from our direction,

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you're going to have to go back
up a little portion of Heartbreak Hill,

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and yes, it's going to be
dark, but you have to trust

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that this beacon of light is here
to serve as a source of energy inner

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belief exploration. Because when you walk
through a forest late at night, you

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can't see the limbs that are on
the ground. You don't know what animals

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are walking at you. But then
when you look up from the forest floor

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and you see that beacon of light, you just know you're almost there.

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Keep trying. Thanks for being a
part of the conversation.