1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,359 Speaker 1: Hey, when it comes to podcasts listening, are you like me? 2 00:00:02,799 --> 00:00:05,559 I mean, it's like television surfing. You're like all over 3 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:07,440 the place looking for that one thing that you can 4 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,439 add to your moment of now. Be it forest stories, 5 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,560 be it rockstar stories, talking with a chef, whatever you're 6 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,879 looking for. That's what ero dot net is all about. 7 00:00:17,199 --> 00:00:20,879 Arrooe dot net. The searching is over. It's all in 8 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,359 one place. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, thanks for being a 9 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:28,879 part of the conversation. Welcome to Forest Stories, a series 10 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,079 of short winded adventures within a collection of skyscraping trees, 11 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:34,719 stuck feet first and Georgia Clay right here in Carolina. 12 00:00:35,439 --> 00:00:37,320 It's been a huge part of my daily journey for 13 00:00:37,359 --> 00:00:40,240 over thirty three years. I Am the Poet in the Forest, 14 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,600 a children's series written and recorded in the nineteen nineties. 15 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,399 It's grown into multiple podcasts that now reach around the world, 16 00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:49,840 and none of it would be possible without this forest 17 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,799 right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base 18 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,920 of Heartbreak Hills. It's a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well, 19 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,759 it's time you get to meet what's inspired several generations 20 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,880 long before the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized 21 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,359 around this beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps, and 22 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,840 array of natural animals. There were families and business owners 23 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,040 who are said to have raised into this area for 24 00:01:13,079 --> 00:01:16,560 the beauty of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and 25 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,519 wild grapevines. Those before me either forgot to write about it, 26 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,719 or it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. 27 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,079 Speaker 2: Welcome back to the conversation. I am at the base 28 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,120 of Heartbreak Hill. I've talked about Heartbreak Hill for so 29 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,319 so long. I'm reminded of a conversation that I shared 30 00:01:35,359 --> 00:01:38,280 with a friend yesterday about what it's like to go 31 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,799 home if you live in a different city, like I 32 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:45,040 did in Billings, Moontana. Going home to that place where 33 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,480 my father raised eight children, it always seemed incredibly small. 34 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,719 I remember walking through the house going, how did you 35 00:01:53,879 --> 00:01:59,040 raise eight children with two parents in this home? How 36 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,959 did it even happen? And I can't help but wonder 37 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,719 the same exact thing. As I make my way up 38 00:02:04,959 --> 00:02:10,120 Heartbreak Hill. What I see as something that is extraordinarily large, 39 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,439 very heart wrenching as well as breathtaking. If I were 40 00:02:16,479 --> 00:02:19,639 to come back, would be like my mom and Dad's home, 41 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,439 in the way of how did I ever think this 42 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:27,800 was so large? As it happened to you. You go 43 00:02:27,879 --> 00:02:30,199 back to a school, you go back to a business 44 00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:33,639 or a place that you just called your own, and 45 00:02:33,759 --> 00:02:38,840 upon returning, it looks so much smaller than what you 46 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,599 envisioned or experienced when it became a major part of 47 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,199 the chapters that you write. And as I make my 48 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:47,560 way up this hill, I can't help but think that 49 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,280 that in my eyes and heart, heartbreak Hill is this 50 00:02:52,479 --> 00:02:56,439 huge mountain. It is this glorious place where I can 51 00:02:56,439 --> 00:02:58,680 get to the top of the world here and look 52 00:02:58,759 --> 00:03:00,680 at the hawks. I can see the lake, I can 53 00:03:00,719 --> 00:03:03,280 see the stream, I can see the skies if I'm 54 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,039 in Montana, which is Big Sky Country. But let me 55 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,879 tell you, there ain't nothing like Big Sky Country Montana. 56 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,479 But that's the thing about it. In everything that we 57 00:03:14,599 --> 00:03:18,400 do and the personal places that we walk, truly get 58 00:03:18,439 --> 00:03:21,520 into it, if by way of creativity and or just 59 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,840 to release ourselves from an everyday world that is filled 60 00:03:24,879 --> 00:03:29,000 with so much uncertainty, the things that we see as 61 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:33,759 been huge, out of control. Big. Oh, the world is 62 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,719 going to come here with their skateboards all the hikers 63 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,719 and of course the bicyclist. If I were to leave, 64 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,680 which I hope I do not. If I were to 65 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:48,360 leave and I came back ten twenty years later, would 66 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:54,280 I feel the same, Would the writing change? Would it 67 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,400 be a smaller world? Hey, thanks for being a part 68 00:03:58,599 --> 00:03:59,439 of a conversation.