1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,319 Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This is four Stories. 2 00:00:03,759 --> 00:00:06,919 I'm the Poet in the Forest, a children's series that I pinned out 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,880 in the nineteen nineties. Now, none of it would be possible if it 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,359 wasn't for this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I talk 5 00:00:13,439 --> 00:00:17,440 about it so much that I thought maybe it's time that you get to know 6 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:23,359 what has inspired me for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the 7 00:00:23,399 --> 00:00:29,640 conversation. Welcome back to the forest. September twenty fourth, my mother's birthday. 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,920 My mother got to spend one week with us inside this forest. That's 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,719 the only time in all the years that I've lived in Carolina, in this 10 00:00:36,799 --> 00:00:42,159 forest that she ever came down from Montana to visit us. It's still planted 11 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,399 deep inside my heart the way that she would come out here on this deck, 12 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:50,960 which is twenty three feet above the forest floor, overlooking the slow paced 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,640 creek, extremely long tall grass, and these trees that I know are scraping 14 00:00:56,679 --> 00:01:00,000 the clouds from the sky from this particular place. My mother couldn't see the 15 00:01:00,039 --> 00:01:04,920 lake, but the essence of this moment, the twenty fourth day of September, 16 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,680 the memory of my mother being out here because every day, several times 17 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,640 a day, my mother would come out to be with this forest. My 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,560 mother was very spiritual. It's very very big chance that she was probably coming 19 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,680 out here to pray or meditate. Maybe my mother was dealing with her own 20 00:01:21,799 --> 00:01:26,599 challenges in life. She grew up on the Powder River in Wyoming, a 21 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,159 farming district, very tough times back in those days, because, you know 22 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,879 what, they didn't have modern day technology like they do today. My mother 23 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,439 also worked in a bullet factory in World War Two. She kept dedicating her 24 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:42,799 life to serve others, and maybe that's what my mother was doing that one 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,719 week that she spent with me inside this forest in South Charlotte, North Carolina. 26 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:51,879 As much inspiration that I receive every single day and what I do with 27 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:57,799 that information in podcasting and writing in putting books together, my mother had seven 28 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:04,079 days to receive but I never asked her about it. And the reason why 29 00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:07,879 I never asked my mom about it was because Mom was always about there are 30 00:02:07,879 --> 00:02:13,400 two things you don't talk about in the everyday world, religion and politics. 31 00:02:14,439 --> 00:02:16,039 So if it was going to be something that I would like to learn from 32 00:02:16,039 --> 00:02:22,400 my mother about her spiritual studies in this forest or religious experience. I wasn't 33 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,080 going to do it because in her heart there are two things you never talk 34 00:02:25,159 --> 00:02:34,479 about. So as I rest find peace solitude. I meditate on this deck 35 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,159 twenty three feet above the forest floor, overlooking this stream, this moving so 36 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:44,360 slow to the lake. The vision of my mother is very large in my 37 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,680 heart on her birthday. Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation.