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TOP TEN LIST  OF BLESSINGS

My family pokes fun of me when I get too smarmy about how fortunate we are to live here, but, as William Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it.”  So here’s a count down of the blessings that, in the humble opinion of one harried, multi-tasking working mother, are things we share as residents of Corte Madera and Larkspur.

10. Our weather is Goldilocks perfect.

Everywhere else seems to be too hot or too cold. Does anywhere come closer to being “just right”?  The mountain fends off fog in summer. The bay keeps away cold in winter and brings cool breezes on hot summer afternoons.  Oh, and those super red trees this fall?  They got that way because the heat (not the cold) zaps their chorophyle.  That’s how warm our Indian summer was.

9. City mouse and country mouse agree.... 

We are so close to San Francisco, yet there’s a feeling of being far away. Just 11 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge, yet the stresses of the urban world fall away to the deer strolling main streets, beautiful birds in the marsh, quiet in the hills. 

8. Let’s go to the mall!

If I had polled my daughters, our shopping would be number one.  Do you know how far some people have to drive just to get to a Nordstrom’s or an REI?  Do you realize just how excellent places like Bryan’s Fine Foods really are?  Or the bounty of the Farmer’s Markets, week after week, all year? 

7.  Healthy lifestyles.

With the fresh food, fresh air and focus on health, there is simply no excuse for not taking good care of ourselves. Okay, so some of us need a little work realizing the benefits of this particular blessing, but we’ll get to that later, maybe a New Year’s Column?

6. You can make the beauty yours.

Stroll up Christmas Tree Hill, Ring Mountain, King Mountain, or wander out along the paths on Shorebird marsh this holiday season.  Know the magic of where you are.  You will feel like a better human being.  This is a scientific fact.  We are products of whatever natural world surrounds us, so we feel an exultation that just doesn’t happen in noisy urban jungles of concrete and steel. 

5. Quiet eyes watching over us.  

No I’m not getting religious here.  I am referring to the men and women from both Corte Madera and Larkspur who stay involved in various ways, year after year, decade after decade, protecting our small town life. You know who you are.  Thank you!

4. Creativity and can-do spirit.

Here’s to those who have big ideas and do something about them.  For example, Vicki Creath and her weekly KidPics movie reviews, written by local children. Now she is producing a Youth Film Festival this spring, with Bernice Baeza, a local champion who guided the beautiful renewal of the Lark Theatre. 

3. Smart, nice, down to earth people. 

Our people are an embarrassment of riches.  I’ll never forget my first parent meeting at the Twin Cities Coo Pre-school, fifteen years ago.  As each parent introduced themselves, I thought, “Wow, I would love to her friend…and her friend, and her friend, and her friend.”  The same thing has happened at the local Mother’s Club, and everywhere I’ve been since.  So many interesting people, so little time!

2. Commitment to a higher good.

We realize how much the world needs us.  Our teachers are making sure that our children know, in black and white statistics, just how privledged they are, and that if this generation does find solutions to our world’s problems, no one else will.   We come together to raise funds for our schools, and for disasters like Katrina. People like Kappy Reed and Liz Krakow take off in the midst of  a busy holiday season to pitch in at an  orphanage in Mexico. Being able to taking responsibility for contributing to the higher good is surely the greatest luxury of our good lives. Let’s not squander it.

1. The ties that bind.

We are, as a community, more supportive and more down to earth than many neighboring Marin towns.  And what other part of the country, or the world for that matter, more closely resembles an ideal, enlightened, utopian family-centered community than our little town?   We have people from all religions gathering to sing holiday/Christmas carols on the patio at the Rec Center.   Published police reports that still cover lost dogs.  Santa riding around town in a fire truck.  Festivals that close down main streets.  How perfectly quaint can a town be?

 As  William Wordsworth said ( I think it was him)…. 

“THE ONLY TRUE WEALTH IS GRATITUDE” 

If this is true, I’m closing in on Bill Gates!  Best wishes that you find richness in all your days,

Neighbor Pat

pravasio@fhallen.com

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