What I Love About Living in San Rafael

I grew up in Tiburon. I’ve lived in Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Novato and San Rafael, and other than my time away in college (Oregon and San Diego) and a few years living and surfing at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach I’ve lived in Marin County my entire life. I am extremely grateful for the wonderful experiences I’ve enjoyed as a Marin County resident, and I’m pleased and privileged to be able to raise my own family in San Rafael.

As a parent one of the things I appreciate the most about San Rafael are our award winning schools. My daughters are in fifth and seventh grades and have been part of the Dixie School District since we moved back here from Novato in 2007. The quality of education is high, as is the level of parent involvement in the schools. As parents in the district we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Can-do Foundation (http://www.cando4schools.com/), which funds many of our school activities like the physical education, technology, the arts, drama and environmental science. Without Can-do and the generosity of parents in the district the overall quality of education would surely not be as high.

As an involved parent I’ve also enjoyed participating in the Dixie Youth Soccer Association (http://dixiesoccer.org/home/), coaching my daughter’s teams the past four years. Time goes so quickly and with my older daughter in seventh grade already I’ve got one, maybe two years left at the most ahead of me as her coach. I love sitting on the sidelines and cheering on my daughters as a fan, but even more so I’ve loved directing the team activities and watching players learn and grow over the years. Despite being a ‘recreational’ league, the kids take the games very seriously: practices not so much and that’s okay because we want to make sure they are having fun.

Swimming season has begun and my daughters are both in the Marin Swim League on the Terra Linda Orcas (http://www.tlorca.org). We’ve got two of the best coaches in the league, Tim Baker and Andy Benoit. Not only do the kids excel in the water, learning proper technique and getting in great shape, Tim and Andy make sure the kids enjoy their Orca experience. As a coach I have to admire their ability to get the most out of kids while keeping it fun. Personally I’ve had a hard time walking that line coaching soccer and I usually end up more on the side of fun. It is recreational soccer after all, and we only practice twice a week, whereas my kids are in the pool almost daily from the beginning of March through mid-July.

There are a lot of things to enjoy about San Rafael, one of which is relative affordability. While not as affordable as Novato, a pretty great place to live in its own right, San Rafael is certainly more affordable than its Southern Marin neighbors. Great homes in very desirable neighborhoods are still being bought and sold under $1 million. This month I’m closing on a spacious home at 394 Holly Street in Terra Linda that we priced at $769,000.

Over the years I’ve tried to give back to the community in San Rafael. I’ve volunteered at Vallecito Elementary School (yes, that was me one morning out on the curb in front of the school dressed as Clifford the Big Red Dog a few weeks ago), raised funds for the Can-do Foundation and regularly contributed as a Dixie School District Business Partner. In my years of coaching soccer I’ve given as much as I’ve gotten out of the program, and with the Terra Linda Orcas I’ve been a very active volunteer that I’m humbled to say previously earned me recognition as Volunteer Parent of the Year. Plus I write for the San Rafael Patch (obviously), and I hope people have enjoyed the articles and blogs I’ve written over the years.

I love living and raising my family in San Rafael, and I’m happy to give back to the community wherever I can because the community has given me and my family so much.