Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This is Forest Stories.
I am 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 that we'd put our focus on.
The rocks. This forest is blessed with a lot of rocks, big ones,
small ones, not square, not round. They are oblong, they
are weathered. They all have stories, and as you walk by them,
it's almost like they're staring at you, saying, come sit down beside me.
Let me share with you a journey that was here before you, and
it will continue long after you. But let me share the story. Now,
other types of rocks that we have inside our man made world are the
bricks that we make. We stack them, we design them, we put
flowers inside of them. These bricks yard bricks. But the thing that gets
my attention the most are the rocks, especially when there's a collection of rocks
like the ones I'm about ready to pass right now as we go down to
Heartbreak Hill. Heartbreak Hill really is a heartbreaker if you've got perfectly shaped lungs.
By the time you get to the top of Heartbreak Hill. The thing
is is that you're going to find yourself in a position of trying to regain
your next breath. But I'm standing next to this collection of rocks, maybe
fifteen of them. Some maybe looked upon as just being a stone, others
large boulders. But why is it some rocks get together, they get to
be in a place of togetherness, and yet when you look at other rocks,
what you were invited to is individualism. In my own personal yard,
I've had rocks that sit on the side of the hill that weren't anywhere near
my story until the erosion set in. We've talked about that hill where a
ninety five foot drop from the street to the slow moving creek to the lake.
While out on this walk through the forest, we come across another collection
of rocks. Now, I know in my heart this one particular set of
rocks were not here because of natural means. They were put here because man
came by with its gigantic excavators and cranes and move these rocks because they had
to dig deep inside the earth. And once those rocks were exposed, man
said, we can't hide this rock. We've got to let it become a
storyteller in these modern times. The rocks big, small, Some of them
seems so silent. Yet if you look at the shape and the size,
there's a story. I haven't think that when you go to the beach.
The reason why so many people are so drawn to the beach. All of
those pebbles of sand are rocks, and when it's on your bare feet,
their stories are moving through you. Now combine it with the waves of the
ocean, suddenly you've got jazz. Something so amazingly perfect. This forest with
its trees, the wind on a chilly, sixty four degree fall day.
And we've chosen to share the story of the rocks. And the question is
are you willing to listen? Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation.