1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This

2
00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,799
is Forest Stories. I'm the Poet in the Forest, a

3
00:00:05,919 --> 00:00:08,480
children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,

4
00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:10,640
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for

5
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,480
this forest right here in South Arlotte, North Carolina. I

6
00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:16,480
talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's

7
00:00:16,519 --> 00:00:19,679
time that you get to know what has inspired me

8
00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:25,480
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation. Hey,

9
00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,120
welcome back to the forest. I'm pretty deep into the

10
00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:31,120
forest this morning, so much so that I can see

11
00:00:31,239 --> 00:00:34,880
the actual starting of Heartbreak Hill. I've talked so much

12
00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,799
about Heartbreak Hill, about how it will steal the air

13
00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,079
from your lungs in a heartbeat. You can be walking

14
00:00:40,679 --> 00:00:42,679
very very slowly. By the time you get to the top,

15
00:00:42,719 --> 00:00:44,799
you're going to be sucking for airs. What you're going

16
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,600
to be doing Heartbreak Hill. I've been with this hill

17
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:52,880
for thirty three years, so many good as well as

18
00:00:53,039 --> 00:00:58,799
bad memories. During my heart attack post exercises, I made

19
00:00:58,799 --> 00:01:00,960
sure that I kept walking up and down, up and

20
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,840
down this hill to restrengthen my heart, and then I

21
00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,400
started jogging up and down the hill to keep that

22
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,239
heart strong. But what about those winter months where we

23
00:01:10,239 --> 00:01:14,879
couldn't get the cars up Heartbreak Hill? Too steep, spinning

24
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,120
the tires, going sideways, almost running off the road. And

25
00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:21,400
then one year it actually happened. We parked at the

26
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,400
base of Heartbreak Hill and somebody came by and totaled

27
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:30,680
their car because they couldn't control themselves coming down Heartbreak Hill.

28
00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:34,599
It's such an amazing hill that just deserves so much love,

29
00:01:34,879 --> 00:01:37,599
and yet it'll bite your ass in a heartbeat. I've

30
00:01:37,599 --> 00:01:41,000
always believed that Heartbreak Hill has earned that name for

31
00:01:41,159 --> 00:01:44,920
reasons beyond my presence in the thirty three years. What

32
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000
about forty years ago, fifty years ago. Just because they

33
00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,359
paid this thing in nineteen eighty eight doesn't mean it

34
00:01:51,359 --> 00:01:54,599
didn't exist before that. Maybe it was a dirt road.

35
00:01:55,239 --> 00:01:58,480
People would run up the hill. They would drive up

36
00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,000
the hill because on the opposite side is that beautiful

37
00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,599
lake and that stream where the wild roses grew and

38
00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,080
the wild grapes and everything that was one hundred percent

39
00:02:08,199 --> 00:02:11,599
natural was waiting for someone to explore during the winter

40
00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,479
months as well as the summer months. Because on the

41
00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,400
opposite side of where I am on Heartbreak Hill, I've

42
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,400
always called at the King's Mountain because when it snows,

43
00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,319
we're all out there on that side of Heartbreak Hill,

44
00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,360
taking those sleds out there and going for a nice

45
00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,080
long ride, getting that crap scared right out of us.

46
00:02:30,199 --> 00:02:32,680
And the reason why because you don't know where the

47
00:02:32,719 --> 00:02:35,639
southern ice is going to take your sled or your

48
00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,960
inner tube. But Heartbreak Hill, I'm staring at it right now.

49
00:02:40,719 --> 00:02:43,960
It doesn't say anything about not liking me. He just says,

50
00:02:44,439 --> 00:02:47,479
come on, give it a shot. You're gonna have your

51
00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,879
lungs exercised, and your body is going to be challenged

52
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,800
because sometimes it hurts like hill coming up Heartbreak Hill.

53
00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,879
That reminds me of Ron. I used to joke around

54
00:02:57,879 --> 00:03:00,800
with Ron all the time and he would say, there's

55
00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,680
going to come a day when I can't climb Heartbreak

56
00:03:03,719 --> 00:03:07,199
Hill anymore. He says, you know what, I'm gonna have

57
00:03:07,199 --> 00:03:11,319
to start driving after that. Well, here's the truth about Ron.

58
00:03:11,719 --> 00:03:13,560
When I found out that he was no longer climbing

59
00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,879
Heartbreak Hill, it wasn't too long after that that he

60
00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,560
transitioned even sadder for me, maybe a little bit selfish.

61
00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,800
My wife is now looking at me and she's telling

62
00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:31,159
me it's getting harder to climb heartbreak Hill. Hey, thanks

63
00:03:31,159 --> 00:03:32,599
for being a part of the conversation.