It has always been my intention not to let sixty issues of this magazine go by under my watch without using this space to thank a few people. Seeing as this is, at least by my best count, the fifty-ninth issue that I have had the privilege of editing, now is the time. “It’s never too late to say thank you,” my dear old mom used to tell me. Or was it “It’s never too late to say you’re sorry” that dear old mom used to say? I can never remember, which may be why I find myself sending out notes that start along the lines of “I’m sorry for not having thanked you sooner…”

There are at present nineteen people on the masthead of this magazine. That includes the usual guest editor who doesn’t actually exist, and who we keep trying to fire but never seem to be able to do. It’s hard enough to make a living and find housing on this Island, we say to ourselves, without losing your job and benefits just because you don’t actually exist. Everyone else on the masthead most certainly does exist, and their hard work is the reason this magazine is in your hands. At the top of the list is Jane Seagrave, our fearless publisher, without whose tireless efforts it’s quite possible that the lights would not still be on here at Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, not to mention at our venerable and indispensable sibling publication, the Vineyard Gazette.

Not on the masthead are all the Vineyard businesses that choose to advertise with us, thus keeping the lights on in a very real way. And our readers, whose subscriptions and support of those businesses also keep the eighteen Islanders on the list employed.

Also not on the masthead are the 115 freelance writers, give or take a few, who have contributed some 500 pieces of writing, give or take a few dozen. That first number, in particular, astonished me when I added it up. I have not always seen eye to eye with every one of those writers, nor they with me. Some have written only once, some have written for almost every issue. Some were professional writers and contributors long before I joined the magazine, and some we were lucky to publish for the first time in their writing careers. It has been an unexpected privilege to work with each of them. More importantly, many of them I now consider friends.

The same goes for our talented photographers and illustrators. It’s their work, I believe, that entices people to pick up the magazine in the first place. And it’s their work that makes people want to hang on to old issues long after they’ve read the articles.

But of all these friends and colleagues, there are three without whom it is impossible to imagine that I would be so proud of these past fifty-nine issues. Or that the magazines would have been so much fun to create. I’m talking, of course, about our art director, Alley Moore, who was making this a beautiful publication long before I showed up in 2013. And about our senior editor, Vanessa Czarnecki, who joined the team about a month after I did. And our associate editor, Nicole Mercier, who has also been on board from the beginning.

But, oops, I’ve kind of blathered on and completely run out of room to thank them properly. I’ll have to remember to apologize and thank them later. “Better late than never,” dear old mom would say. I’m starting to think that what we really need around here is an editor who can get some of these writers to tighten up their acts.

Uh, Vanessa? What are you doing for the next fifty-nine issues?