Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. Welcome
to Forest Stories, a series of short winded adventures within
a collection of skyscraping trees stuck feet first in Georgia
Clay right here in Carolina. It's been a huge part
of my daily journey for over thirty three years. I
Am the Poet in the Forest, a children's series written
and recorded in the nineteen nineties. It's grown into multiple
podcasts that now reach around the world, and none of
it would be possible without this forest. Right here in
South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base of Heartbreak Hills,
sits a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well, it's time
you get to meet what's inspired several generations. Long before
the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized around this
beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps and array of
natural animals, there were families and business owners who are
said to have raced into this area for the beauty
of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and wild grapevines.
Those before me either forgot to write about it or
it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey, thanks for
being a part of the conversation. This week, the Writer's
Pen puts focus on Heartbreak Hill. The sign after the sign.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the forest. We're presently standing at the
base of Heartbreak Hill. We have talked so much and
written so much about Heartbreak Hill. It is that hill
that the family and the Yellow House who've been there
just as long as we've been inside this forest. She goes,
you ain't walking up that hill, are you. That's a
big hill to be climbing every day. And I looked
over there to my right, and I saw the sign
that I was commanded to or asked to put up
on this hill that very sternly, strongly and beautifully says
Heartbreak Hill. Established nineteen eighty eight to give it the
identity that it truly deserves, so that the people that
live on the base of Heartbreak Hill, instead of saying,
are you really going up that gigantic hill? How do
you make it to the top on a daily basis?
And I remember my wife looking at her and saying,
some days it's pretty tough. And then I'm reminded of
Ron when he looked at me and said, one day,
there's going to be a day that I'm not going
to make it to the top of Heartbreak Hill. And
when I saw him starting to drive his dogs instead
of walking them up Heartbreak Hill, I knew his days
were numbered. I knew that Heartbreak Hill would lose a fan,
a friend, somebody who loves it as much as I do.
With all the beauty that is here and will take
place in the weeks ahead, because another season of fall
is set to set in, and that means it'll be
brilliantly colorized by nature's little kiss. But it only lasts
a moment. It's kind of like walking up Heartbreak Hill.
It is a pain and your legs and your chest
and your back and everything about you to get to
the top of this hill. But I will share with
you that sense planting that beautiful sign that says Heartbreak Kill.
Established nineteen eighty eight, allowing people to see that this
hill has a name, has an identity instead of Hey,
yo's up, what's going on now? The skateboarders, the joggers,
the bicyclists, the casual walkers, those looking for a rush
inside their heart rate, they can sit there and say,
I'm going up hartpre Ak Kill, I'm going to conquer today.
I'm going to get up there. I'm going to be
out of breath. But I did something. I went up
Heartbreak Hill, and I invite you to do the same
in the places that which you create and or walk up,
negotiate with. Just give it an identity. Don't just say
he's girt up to the top of the hill. Be
more than the woman at the bottom and the base
of Heartbreak Hill. You go on up that hill today?
How do you get up that hill? It's much too
big for me. I can't get out there and do that.
Oh yeah, those are people that have lived here a
long long time, the originals. The o genis heart Break
Kill and its identity as it continues to grow. And
we're getting a lot of people on Heartbreak Hill since
giving it its name. But the thing about it is
is that we can it's a several decades ago. Hey,
thanks for being a part of the conversation.