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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This

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is Forest Stories. I am the Poet in the Forest,

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a children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,

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none of it would be possible if it wasn't for

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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

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time that you get to know what has inspired me

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for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

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Welcome back to the forest. I'm at the base of

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Heartbreak Hill right now, and I wish you could hear

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what I'm experiencing. And this isn't anything new. I've been

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a part of this forest for thirty two years, which

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means the giant yellow house at the base of Heartbreak Hill.

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It's always had a music teacher. So to be walking

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beside it today to hear her still playing the piano,

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of course, I'm having flashbacks of my times with my

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mother up in Billings, Montana. She always loved that piano.

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I've spoken with his family so many times about the music,

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about the forest, and oh my god, are they ever

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protective of the forest. They have a gigantic meadow connected

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to their land, which allows every bird of prey, the dear,

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any animal to just stop in for a bite. But

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today I wish I had a high powered microphone so

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that you could hear the piano inside the yellow house

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at the base of Heartbreak Hill. It's music for the soul,

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and I'm sure in speaking with her she would tell

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you her fingers on those keys. That is her soul,

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and she's so willing to share it with up and

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coming musicians who think they've got it, you know, to

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be creative, and that's what she is. Not only a

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school teacher, but a music teacher. She knows the way

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to the soul. And thanks for being a part of

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the conversation.