ritten CELEBRATING THE

We’re thrilled to share a few works from some of the writers who have taken the mic at Emerald Coast Storytellers events over the past year. ECS invites storytellers from the Northwest Florida coastal community and beyond to attend their monthly Open Mic Night, where around a dozen participants have the spotlight for about five minutes to read a story or share an anecdote. This is just a small sampling of the variety and talent guests have witnessed and shared through these momentous events!

BY MILTON SIEGELE

I have stood here enduringly for years.

I have patiently grown. I have steadily gotten stronger. I have steadfastly endured.

I have endured considerable pain and arduous hardship, but never, ever uttered a single word or shed a tear.

Because that’s what trees do. They endure, dammit!

They endure!

And that may be the reason I exist, to endure, and to exemplify, in this one small space, what it means to endure, and how to endure, in stoic, silent strength, so that other trees might know.

After all, I am but a tree.