Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This
is Forest Stories. I'm the Poet in the Forest, a
children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I
talk about it so much that I thought, maybe it's
time that you get to know what has inspired me
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome back to the forest. Well it's arrived.
Speaker 2: The sign a beautiful sign that says Heartbreak Hill, established
nineteen eighty eight. I've spent so much time writing about
and talking about Heartbreak Hill that I felt that maybe
it's time for newbies and people who've lived inside this
force all these years to know that this is heartbreak Hill.
Not as in someone's heart has been broken. It's just
that this hill is so amazingly steep that it just
breaks your heart. When you get to the top, you're
just gasping for air and you're just sitting there going
I did it. Oh my god, that's my victory for
the day. I climbed up Heartbreak Hill and made it.
But the sign it arrived, and I'll probably wait a
couple of days before I put it up because I
want to have good, good, good tools and screws and
things like that to keep it in place. Because with
a sign like this, and I'm not this is not
conceded a sign like this, people will probably take it.
And I have to prepare my heart for something like that,
because Heartbreak Hill is just that place where skateboarders go, walkers,
bike riders, people who want to accept a daily challenge,
they go up the hill. And the only time you
don't ever want to go up that hill is when
there is snow and ice. You're not gonna get up
that hill. You better figure out where you're going to
park that car, and you better put it in a
place where it's not going to get smashed into. Because
we're living in a forest. That's what it's all about.
It's about accepting all things nature. But sometimes you got
to take the chance and name the things and create
a mile marker so that future generations can say, where
are you going? I thought I'd take a walk up
Heartbreak Hill. Where's that name come from? I don't know,
I don't know. There's a sign on the road. They
call it Heartbreak Hill. I know nothing about this area,
but that's the reason why I created this podcast, is
to help share the story of this forest that has
been in my life since nineteen ninety two, and it
really is a place of unbelievable positive energy. The sign
it's arrived, I cannot wait to share the name of
this hill with the rest of the world. Heartbreak Hill,
thanks for being a part of the conversation.