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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. Welcome

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to Forest Stories, a series of short winded adventures within

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a collection of skyscraping trees stuck feet first in Georgia

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Clay right here in Carolina. It's been a huge part

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of my daily journey for over thirty three years. I

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Am the Poet in the Forest, a children's series written

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and recorded in the nineteen nineties. It's grown into multiple

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podcasts that now reach around the world, and none of

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it would be possible without this forest. Right here in

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South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base of Heartbreak Hills,

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sits a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well, it's time

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you get to meet what's inspired several generations. Long before

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the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized around this

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beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps and array of

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natural animals, there were families and business owners who are

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said to have raced into this area for the beauty

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of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and wild grapevines.

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Those before me either forgot to write about it or

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

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being a part of the conversation this week, The writer's

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canvas puts us in touch with the missing key.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the forest. Very interesting thing happened while

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on this walk through these beautiful trees, gorgeous sun on

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a late summer day, a summer day that should be

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fall but oh hell no, not in this forest. Not

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until probably late October, early November. I found something on

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the trail on the transition walk. Someone's house key, right

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there in plain sight. House key. You know, we all

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have that moment where I call it the blind gorilla theory,

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and that is is that when we lose things, it's

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right there in front of us, we just can't see it.

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And I think that's one of these moments. Someone has

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lost or misplaced their house key. I hope to God

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they got back in their house. I have a digital

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system on my house to where that's my way of saying,

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I'm a buffoon. I lose my keys all the time.

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So I have a lot of compassion for the person

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that has lost this house key today. Now, did I

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pick it up, take it home and expect to find

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somebody that's walking on the path in the future. Hell no,

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you can't do that. What you have to do is

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replant the visibility. Put it in a place where that

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silver key will catch a real big glimpse of the

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sun and shine in the corner of your eye, so

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that when that person starts walking up Heartbreak Hill again

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once again, it always includes Heartbreak Hill. Walking up Heartbreak Hill,

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you lose your house key. Oh my god, where's it at?

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It could be anywhere out there. Now, just go to

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Heartbreak Hill. This big ass hill has a way of

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stealing so many things. And then one day you come

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back and because somebody set the key to the side

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in a place where it's going to glimmer and glamour

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and give you some bling bling, you're gonna go, oh

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my god, it's right there. I found my house key. Yeah.

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You find things a lot on Heartbreak Hill. I mean,

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it could be one of the skateboarders. It could be

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a jogger or somebody just out for a stroll to

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get their heart rate up, because it's gonna go up

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when you step onto Heartbreak Hill. Hey, thanks for being

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a part of the conversation.