Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. Welcome
to Forest Stories, a series of short winded adventures within
a collection of skyscraping trees stuck feet first in Georgia
Clay right here in Carolina. It's been a huge part
of my daily journey for over thirty three years. I
Am the Poet in the Forest, a children's series written
and recorded in the nineteen nineties. It's grown into multiple
podcasts that now reach around the world, and none of
it would be possible without this forest. Right here in
South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base of Heartbreak Hills,
sits a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well, it's time
you get to meet what's inspired several generations. Long before
the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized around this
beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps and array of
natural animals, there were families and business owners who are
said to have raced into this area for the beauty
of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and wild grapevines.
Those before me either forgot to write about it or
it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey, thanks for
being a part of the conversation this week, The writer's
canvas puts us in touch with the missing key.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the forest. Very interesting thing happened while
on this walk through these beautiful trees, gorgeous sun on
a late summer day, a summer day that should be
fall but oh hell no, not in this forest. Not
until probably late October, early November. I found something on
the trail on the transition walk. Someone's house key, right
there in plain sight. House key. You know, we all
have that moment where I call it the blind gorilla theory,
and that is is that when we lose things, it's
right there in front of us, we just can't see it.
And I think that's one of these moments. Someone has
lost or misplaced their house key. I hope to God
they got back in their house. I have a digital
system on my house to where that's my way of saying,
I'm a buffoon. I lose my keys all the time.
So I have a lot of compassion for the person
that has lost this house key today. Now, did I
pick it up, take it home and expect to find
somebody that's walking on the path in the future. Hell no,
you can't do that. What you have to do is
replant the visibility. Put it in a place where that
silver key will catch a real big glimpse of the
sun and shine in the corner of your eye, so
that when that person starts walking up Heartbreak Hill again
once again, it always includes Heartbreak Hill. Walking up Heartbreak Hill,
you lose your house key. Oh my god, where's it at?
It could be anywhere out there. Now, just go to
Heartbreak Hill. This big ass hill has a way of
stealing so many things. And then one day you come
back and because somebody set the key to the side
in a place where it's going to glimmer and glamour
and give you some bling bling, you're gonna go, oh
my god, it's right there. I found my house key. Yeah.
You find things a lot on Heartbreak Hill. I mean,
it could be one of the skateboarders. It could be
a jogger or somebody just out for a stroll to
get their heart rate up, because it's gonna go up
when you step onto Heartbreak Hill. Hey, thanks for being
a part of the conversation.