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Speaker 1: Hey, when it comes to podcasts listening, are you like me?

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I mean, it's like television surfing. You're like all over

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the place looking for that one thing that you can

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add to your moment of now. Be it forest stories,

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be it rockstar stories, talking with a chef, whatever you're

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looking for. That's what ero dot net is all about.

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Arrooe dot net. The searching is over. It's all in

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one place. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, thanks for being a

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part of the conversation. Welcome to Forest Stories, a series

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of short winded adventures within a collection of skyscraping trees,

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stuck feet first and Georgia Clay right here in Carolina.

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It's been a huge part of my daily journey for

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over thirty three years. I Am the Poet in the Forest,

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a children's series written and recorded in the nineteen nineties.

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It's grown into multiple podcasts that now reach around the world,

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and none of it would be possible without this forest

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right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base

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of Heartbreak Hills. It's a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well,

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it's time you get to meet what's inspired several generations

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long before the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized

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around this beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps and

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array of natural animals. There were families and business owners

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who are said to have raced into this area for

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the beauty of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and

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wild grapevines. Those before me either forgot to write about it,

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or it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey, thanks

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for being a part of the conversation.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the forest. Many many times I've openly

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written about the final dance. The final dance was originally

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inspired by the falling leaves from these trees during the

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fall months. The final dance when a tree sets free

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its leaves in the way of giving them that opportunity

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to slowly dance their way to the forest floor below,

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to be able to experience the art of wind while

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not testing the strength of nature, but understanding that nature

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is calling out to you to serve in other areas

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of the forested land, not to serve yourself or the

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tree anymore unless you fall to the forest floor in

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the way of feeding the roots of that tree, but

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rather giving more of your journey to the other living things.

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That continue to grow and or transition inside a forest,

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always always changing. Today is the final dance from my

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very very close and very spiritual friend, Ernie the Blue

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Crown Conyer or my boy boy Ernie, as you've heard

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on countless amounts of podcasts from the podcast Forest Stories,

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View from the Right Instrument and so many others, that

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I felt so incredibly safe to share his story of

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overlooking this forest for thirty four years. I want you

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to think about that thirty four years, this little man, Ernie,

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a blue Crown Conyer, was given the opportunity to see

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every single sunrise as well as its sunset. Ernie and

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I shares several different walks inside this gorgeous forest during

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those thirty four years, slow walks sometimes because it was

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raining and he's a blue crown conye, a bird. What

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we carried him in it would get just as wet

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as Jazzy the disaster Artist, the pointer that came into

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our life and brought so much peace, love, forgiveness, enjoyment

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as well as determination, which if you page back to

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my daily writing, you'll see that Ernie did one and

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the same back in nineteen ninety two. Came in during

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some of the darkest times of my life, where there

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was no hope, no faith, no reason to journey forward.

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And yet this green little man, this blue crown conyer

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with a bright blue head, he would sit there and

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look at me and he would go, good mornin, Did

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you just talk to me? Good morning? And then we

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would go for a stroll through the forest. We'd sit

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outside because the deck overlooks the forest floor. We're twenty

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three feet up. And we did that on purpose, because

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we always wanted to feel like that we were part

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of the birds. Today is the final dance. Ernie transitioned

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just a few days ago, and I've been very patiently

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trying to take it one step at a time to

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make sure that he got to see the forest from

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his point of view. And today we're out here on

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the walk from his point of view, the slow moving

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stream to my left, the beautiful, beautiful lake. Although it

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is freezing out here, the sun is ever so bright

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in honor of my baby Ernie, but it's so cold,

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and the ice crystals took shape on top of the lake.

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But it's such the perfect moment because Ernie's resting place

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or place of continuation, because it is a transition is

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going to overlook every bit of this. For thirty four years,

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he looked out that window, stared into those trees, complained

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when the deer were out there, did not like it

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when the hawks would come around. Oh, he was just

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so filled with unrest when he would see a blue

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jay or even a black ques out there. He seemed

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to like the red cardinals, and he didn't mind the pesky,

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little playful squirrels. He would just sit there and look

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out that window every sunrise, every sunset for thirty four years.

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And today we're on the final Dance. We know what

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is going to happen next. And all you can do

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is say that if I stutter, if I fumble, if

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I flip by flop, I twist, I stop, then I

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think that that's more of an act of selfishness, and

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I'm trying not to be that way, but rather to

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be present with all things that are universal. But it's

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happening in this forest, and it shows how much I

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love this forest and everything that has grown with me.

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And this little guy has been there for thirty four

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yours on the final final Dance. Hey, thanks for being

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a part of the conversation. How do I say goodbye.

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Speaker 3: I'm leaving.

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Speaker 2: Is the new beginning?

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Speaker 4: How can I raise your hopes.

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Speaker 2: When every day something I can't control?

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Speaker 5: Our times a passage, time that wars true time.

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Speaker 3: I love the.

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Speaker 5: The hard.

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Speaker 4: Each day.

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Speaker 6: Sho your s the song should.

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Speaker 3: Say bad through.

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Speaker 4: Have fence gates and to have home my gang. Time

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is lost and found each day, and.

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Speaker 2: Angels forgiven smeo softcas bead.

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Speaker 3: Have fns gates.

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Speaker 5: Been bas friends, Hey, Let's do it again.

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Speaker 3: Time so far the one a.

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Speaker 4: Kiss the wind.

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Speaker 6: The ocean sets within our reach, per sure, made of

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sands of once living mountains.

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Speaker 2: Time painted the path that which we now meet.

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Speaker 6: Set inside a California sunset, where there is nothing but music.

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I and Santa Barbara and you in Carmel, we are

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set free by the waves, colorise, by the palms of trees. Unmasked,

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we swim into the lost horizon, knowing one day we

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will meet on the moony's side inside a stream, preparing

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for the next journey. In our wings we shall hold

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the lyrics of an unexpected dance. You wondering hearts.

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Speaker 4: We are no more.

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Speaker 6: We have passed through the tests of time and shall

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fly at you an unborn tomorrow, never promising it.

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Speaker 2: Everything we've been and shall see is a river.

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Speaker 6: Fed by a guarantee to dance.

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Speaker 5: Our time was surpassage.

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Speaker 4: Time bad was true.

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Speaker 6: I shall build rainbow made from God's best colors your eyes.

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Speaker 3: Time is no jail, for.

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Speaker 5: Gave me a final dance to share her with you.

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I shall write in the absence the words.

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Speaker 4: Too hard, So are we need to die.

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Speaker 3: Before weemen? We all always have now when it's time

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for r H dance.

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Speaker 4: And open your eyes?

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Speaker 3: Does so.

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Speaker 5: Too far high?

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Speaker 2: You know?

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Speaker 3: W holding casus

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Speaker 4: Kusus in him The wind