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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. Today, I'm sitting on the

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bridge, the infamous bridge that sits
in the center of all of these trees.

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So many people wonder why is the
bridge even there. Well, we've

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talked about the ninety five foot drop
from the front of the forest to the

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back of the forest, because I'm
out here by the stream right now that's

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leading to the beautiful lake. The
bridge was created because of the southern downpours,

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and I needed to have some sort
of stream to help guide the water

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into a safe place and not have
it eat away at the land. So

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I created a bridge so that the
natural water would flow beneath it. But

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this bridge couldn't be a home depot
or Low's bridge. It had to be

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one hundred percent all natural from this
forest, and so it has survived more

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winters, a couple of tropical storms, and it's survived a lot of hot

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summers, and it's still very sturdy. This bridge made out of trees from

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this forest. But this bridge has
a different story. It's got a deeper

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story that goes into the veins of
our story in the way that this is

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where I sat the day that the
veterinarian came over and allowed my little boy,

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a Maltese by the name of Woji, to reach deeper into the spirit

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of the world. I still sit
here remembering that day because it was such

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a peaceful journey. He looked at
me in the eyes as if to say,

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you know I love you. You
know I will forever love you.

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I will see you soon, and
he fell asleep. Every one of my

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fuzzy children, all of my rescues, have sat on this bridge with me,

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and they have gone. They're walking
way to one day I will be

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with them, and when I opened
my eyes in their heaven, I will

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talk to them about the bridge.
This place of amazing piece with a stream

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that's reaching toward the beautiful lake,
and all of these beautiful trees inside a

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forest where this poet decided one day
I want to write because it is speaking

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to me and it needs to be
documented. Hey, thanks for being a

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part of the conversation.