By Jennie Hodgson
For The Beachcomber
It is Thanksgiving, and I am contemplating my blessings. Very high on my list right after family and friends, I am grateful that I got to live on Vashon Island for 22 years. I am trying hard not to talk too much about it where I live now, lest I become that tiresome woman who just moved in and can’t stop talking about her beloved Island in Puget Sound. It is possible that I have already come close to doing just that.
What is it that makes Vashon unique? After all, there are more than a few wonderful islands in Puget Sound.
To start, there is the physical beauty. There are vistas, small, medium and large. Some are old favorites to be savored each time you see them; others are marvelous new discoveries. Mother nature provides most, but as each year’s Garden Show proves, people can also produce greatly inspiring landscapes.
The plants of Vashon and Maury are all rooted in the soil of the islands. The soil is unique, made up of the particular rocks that were crushed against each other by the glacier after being formed eons before, and the organic matter deposited by the plants and animals that have lived here and live here now.
And so it is with what I will label the human soil in which Islanders are rooted. I refer to the bits of each person that come from daily contact in the form of conversation, work, play and just plain being. The particular mix of Islanders makes for a rich growing medium.
I can imagine a scientific study of this Vashon human soil. It might read something like this:
“Vashon soil provides an unusually rich mixture of talent, know-how, goodwill, perseverance and fun. Taking root and thriving in this particular medium are all sorts of clubs and associations. The arts, sports and faith-based clubs and groups are abundant. Businesses are of unusually high quality for this (or any) size of community. The number of friendships developed is of high quantity and quality.
“The human soil is not pure. There are small veins of darkness and even evil. However, overall, the possibilities for cultivation are the highest to be found.”
I had thought that when I left, my last glimpse would be of the Island slowly disappearing in the mist.
I would look back and it would be gone, and I would be left to wonder if it was just a long dream after all. But instead, I left on a beautiful, bright September afternoon. When I looked back, the Island was real. Please keep it that way.
— Jennie Hodgson was active in Vashon civic affairs until she moved to Maryland in September.
