As of the year 2000, I had promised myself to live the rest of my life by myself. Then I met my wife Megan, and I had to rethink all those promises.

Because I believe writing is a tool for knowing, I mentally drafted “Suicide Hill” while proctoring 8th grade students taking state tests in North Carolina. I watched the students and I just kept telling this story about a basketball coach who was working as a pall bearer at a funeral. It’s set in a cemetary in Winamac, Indiana where I used to go sledding and really did cut my throat on a tree limb.

I used a draft of the story Suicide Hill for my writing sample to Georgia College. The story also convinced me I should get married.

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