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

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

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

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

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

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

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conversation. Welcome back to the forest. I'm presently on Heartbreak Hill. We've

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talked about this hill so many times, how steep it is, how skateboarders

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from around the Carolina has come here
to film themselves doing all different types of

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tricks speeding down. I mean they've
got their gear on, their head gear,

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elbow pads, and need pads.
As I walk up the hill today,

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Heartbreak Hill, something just kind of
clouded my heart and I thought,

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I haven't thought about this until now, as I struggle for a little bit

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of air to come up this hill
I've been up at a million times.

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Will there ever be a day when
I no longer can climb Heartbreak Hill?

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I remember when Ron would take his
dogs out for a nice long walk,

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and Heartbreak Hill was his place where
he could exercise his heart. Ron would

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say, Yeah, I gotta go
up the hill. I gotta keep this

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heart moving. I want to live
a little bit longer than what I think

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I should be, but I'm gonna
go up Heartbreak Hill. And then one

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day I saw Ron in the car
with his dogs and I said, Ron,

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what's going on. Yeah, I
can't do it anymore. I can't

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go up Heartbreak Hill. It just
takes too much out of me. And

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so I had that thought today going
up Heartbreak Hill, struggling for some are,

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I wondered, is it almost here? That final walk, that final

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dance up heart Break Hill? Not
to be a Tabbie downer. It's the

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truth of this forest. And I
want to thank you for being a part

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of a conversation.