A little over five years ago, I began writing for this newspaper as both a columnist and a correspondent in Port Lavaca.

In that time, I have gotten a feel and admiration for life on the Texas coast, as well as yet experiencing the diverse landscapes that exist in the United States.

Subject matter is of course the meat of any form of writing and in half a decade we have talked about everything from weather safety to gun control, mused on both the changing of the season and everyday life, celebrated our national holidays and mourned some losses as well.

In that same time frame the life of the person who had to produce the words on the topics above also had diversity, in the form that hits all of us at some time or another if we were blessed enough to survive our childhood and teen years and sail the waters of later life.

Connecting the two experiences is not difficult, because Fish Out of Water allowed those experiences to be shared outward into the world, and hopefully the intended target of those words, you the reader, got something of value from my thoughts.

You might think that writing about this might seem like “easy copy,” or even worse a little bit self celebratory or egocentric, but it is actually quite hard to put into perspective.

Five years is quite a long time to be doing one thing, especially in today’s world, which has moved on as far as what constitutes being at one job or task for an extended period.

So it’s only natural to take a quick look back (not too much though, tomorrow is another day and we want eyes front), take stock of what has changed, what has remained the same and what in that pile affects the road ahead.

Doubly so for this column and my work with Dolphin Talk, because it has allowed me to keep my writing sharp and my eyes open a bit more to the world.

The other reason to celebrate this kind of anniversary is to thank those who made it possible, from Joyce here at Dolphin Talk to each one of you who might have read the words in this space over the past five years.

Without you this is nothing because without the reader the writer on any level is a bit empty, a letter with no address, a play with no audience.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share my views and thoughts with you every month, and my plan is to continue to do so for as long as you allow me to do so.