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. We've spent the first few chapters talking about the little human things
that happen inside this forest, from the statues to the peace of the former
county Courthouse in Mecklenburg County, to the trees, Larry Tree, the headless
statues. We've talked so much about that. But the one thing that a
lot of people don't understand is the spiritual connection to this collection of trees.
The birds. The birds are so important to the story. We'll talk about
the hawks and the owls. And the reason why we'll talk about them is
because they don't leave my side, there with me early in the morning,
they're there with me late at night, especially the fun loving hawk with the
way that it loves to be three or four feet from me, just screeching
a way like it's preaching the word, telling me what the real story is
behind the spirit of this forest. The two owls joined me out on the
deck the night that we lost my Chinese crested Sammy. I was so distraught
that I just needed to be with the forest. So I raced outside to
the deck twenty three feet above the forest floor, and right there, on
one limb, there were two owls, and the owls looked at me.
They didn't have to say anything, their eyes as bright as the sunshine,
and yet it was late at night. They talked to me in a way
of saying, we gotcha, We gotcha what you're going through. A lot
of people do, but they don't turn and look at the natural world and
the spirit of it. But we're here with you. This morning, while
Jazzy and I were taking a walk through the forest, and we do that
every day. We were in the forest and to heron heron usually see them
lakeside, to heron in the sky, dove down at us. Did I
run? Did I hide? Was I in fear? No? No,
because I was there to receive. So I go back in and I study
what these animals mean through animals speak and animal spirituality, where are they at
on the totem? And you learn about how important the heron is, how
you are to take an opportunity and learn from it. You may not agree
with the opportunity, but you learn from the opportunity. So these animals,
these birds that fly in the sky high above this beautiful forest in South Charlotte,
they're constantly sharing their word, and in doing so, you pick up
your own heart and you begin to walk in a way that says, I
am embracing this moment of now, and it's thanks to these birds. How
about the rin I think that's what it is. A wren has joined us
on the front porch that overlooks this beautiful forest. I thought it was an
owl at first, but it's not growing. And then I thought, maybe
it's a bat that visits us every single night. It sleeps on this porch
every night, but it doesn't sleep upside down. So the more and more
I dug, the more and more I was educating myself thanks to this forest
and the spirituality about it, it has to be a wren. Its personality
is a wren and what it means to the mind, body, and soul
is a journey of being aware and being present in your place of now.
The win doesn't travel too far. It stays in areas where it knows it
can help protect and it will protect itself the birds of this beautiful forest in
South Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation.