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 raced 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 --> 00:01:20,400
wild grapevines. Those before me either forgot to write about

26
00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:24,560
it or it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey,

27
00:01:24,599 --> 00:01:33,439
thanks for being a part of the conversation. Welcome back

28
00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:39,319
to the forest. Who the morning after. It doesn't matter

29
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,719
what podcasts you listen to when it comes to things

30
00:01:41,719 --> 00:01:46,200
that have flowed through the presence of the universe which

31
00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,560
I belong with and share with. We have talked about

32
00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,000
Ernie so many different times. In fact, one of my

33
00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,799
podcast is called the Lyrics from Ernie's Forest, And many

34
00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:02,439
times during these podcasts I've spoken why about this beautiful,

35
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,959
beautiful little music maker that we have been together for

36
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,639
nearly thirty four years. Thirty four years, and this is

37
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:16,039
the first time that I have entered this forest without

38
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:21,639
him next to me. Ernie, Oh my god, his home

39
00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:27,919
overlooked this forest. Every day Ernie would stare out there

40
00:02:28,199 --> 00:02:31,840
at that lake, the slow moving stream, the tall grass.

41
00:02:32,759 --> 00:02:37,000
Anytime a deer, a buck, a hawk, an owl, a cardinal,

42
00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,960
a squirrel would jump in front of the window. We

43
00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,840
were twenty three feet above the ground, twenty three feet

44
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,680
above that forest floor. Ernie sees movement and he lets

45
00:02:49,719 --> 00:02:53,599
the world know there's somebody out there, there's something that's

46
00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,120
going on. I just want you to know, a human

47
00:02:57,039 --> 00:03:00,879
I got your back, because that's what birds do. I'm

48
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:06,560
not your normal bird. I'm Ernie. I'm Ernie the bird.

49
00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,719
That's right. Anybody who came anywhere and you're Ernie, they

50
00:03:11,759 --> 00:03:14,919
knew they really is something special because he would come

51
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,919
up and talk to you, he would make sounds, he

52
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,719
would make you laugh. It was if he was a

53
00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:26,639
human being that was stuffed inside a tiny, little green body.

54
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,719
And that's all I've got left right now. His had

55
00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:35,520
tiny body, but the spirit of Ernie. The exact words

56
00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,400
that I shared this morning with my wife was that

57
00:03:38,439 --> 00:03:41,039
he has given me so much information to write about

58
00:03:41,759 --> 00:03:45,039
for decades to come. That's what he did in our

59
00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:49,199
thirty four years together. And for the first time ever

60
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:55,599
moving into this home, into this forest thirty three years ago.

61
00:03:56,039 --> 00:03:57,639
It's the first time that I have been in this

62
00:03:57,759 --> 00:04:02,199
forest without Ernie being at home waiting for me to

63
00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:04,960
come back to share with him the stories that I

64
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,919
picked up along the way from the other creations inside

65
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,680
this collection of trees in South Charlotte. So it's can

66
00:04:12,759 --> 00:04:17,600
be very interesting to write, to continue to build upon,

67
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,720
to know that the spirit of Ernie with the lyrics

68
00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,839
and this forest are going to be very very very

69
00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:30,079
much present as well as outreaching. Because here's the thing

70
00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,959
about it. None of us go into this world without

71
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,199
experiencing loss. And the way that Ernie and I have

72
00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,800
discussed this for a very very long time is that

73
00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:46,519
it's not going to be a loss. It's going to

74
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:51,879
be a transition, a walk, a new way to look

75
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,439
at things, to build upon and to savor. Ernie came

76
00:04:56,439 --> 00:05:01,879
into my life during some extremely dark times. Ernie knew

77
00:05:01,879 --> 00:05:04,959
that he had his hands full when he would look

78
00:05:04,959 --> 00:05:08,959
at me and say, oh God, okay, here we go again.

79
00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,079
What song do you want me to do today? What

80
00:05:13,079 --> 00:05:14,639
do I need to do to get you out of

81
00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:18,600
a mindset that is so dark that most people couldn't

82
00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,000
make it this far. One of the greatest things that

83
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:27,399
Ernie ever did, honestly, is that you would open up

84
00:05:27,399 --> 00:05:29,680
a bottle of soda or pop as we called it

85
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:31,480
in the North. You would open it up and it

86
00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:33,480
has that little bit of a sh kind of a

87
00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:38,319
vibe about it, and Ernie would go as if he

88
00:05:38,399 --> 00:05:43,680
was burping. And every time thirty four years of a

89
00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:51,519
little green monkey burping away are the second the phone rings, Hello, Hello, Hello,

90
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,959
six o'clock in the morning, even three and four o'clock

91
00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,160
when you're walking through the house searching for that bathroom

92
00:05:58,199 --> 00:06:05,759
to pee in. Good morning, Good morning. That was my

93
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,000
little man, which we're going to write about and talk

94
00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:17,240
about for many years to come, because this is Ernie's forest.

95
00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:25,839
These lyrics belong to him. Hey, thanks for being a

96
00:06:25,879 --> 00:06:27,839
part of the conversation.