My third-grade teacher preached to us every day, "Your desk is what your real life looks like. If it's cluttered and difficult to locate things in...ummm that's also your world away from the desk."

When I first entered this forest in 1992 the lower section of the 95 foot drop in the hill was blessed with ample amounts of wild blueberries. My daughter chose to make this is favorite reading place. Today, they're all gone. But not the memories planted inside our growing forever.

We rarely speak of the before effects of an everyday world. We'll spend hours and endless amounts of money on the repair but hardly if ever on the steps leading toward.

When solitude reaches back to bite us. Those places or moments that invite so much love for our inner soul and they come with a twist in the plans. Are we being selfish with nature when we refuse to walk in the rain?

We have never erased our daughter's presence as a teen from our home in this forest. The moment you step into her room you're taking a time machine back to the early 1990's. Let the children play. Then save it beyond forever.

A lot of American businesses are locked in on cleaning house. People are getting laid off or fired. The laziest thing anyone can say is, "I didn't see it coming." Not true! The signs were there. Now what? Go with the flow. That old job was a rock in your stream getting in your way. You didn't lose anything. They did! Winning is a choice. Don't make the decision to quit on yourself.

Caught in the center of a classic southern tropical storm. Three inches of hard pouring wet and the land has decided to shift. It didn't stop us from entering the forest. To study everything including the leaves of a tree to pine needles and more importantly the animals. Everything living creation was happy except for the human. We tend to always complain about rain.

Greeted by two owls. Which always tickles the inside of my child sized heart. I do know of the darker side of these birds of prey but choose instead to see there's always two sides to every coin.

Thanks for being part of the conversation I am the Poet In The Forest. A children series I penned out in the 1990s. None of it would be possible if it wasn’t for this forest in South Charlotte, NC. I talk about it so much that I thought maybe it’s time you get to meet all that inspires me. Thanks for being part of the conversation