From time to time I post on Facebook about how I’m trying to come up with an idea for a column. This time a friend suggested writing about community service. Given that I live in Maple Valley, work in Covington and spend time in Black Diamond, I know quite well the kind of service-oriented nature that is the backbone of all three cities.

I knew I could work with that idea. And as I pondered that I realized the time my husband and I have lived in Maple Valley marks the longest I’ve lived anywhere. Ever. There are reasons for that among which is the fact I live in a great community and cover two others.

Growing up, both my parents were somewhat nomadic. My mother drifted up here after growing up in Southern California. I don’t know my dad’s story, but, I am told he landed here after living and working in Alaska but grew up in north central Pennsylvania. I can only confirm the latter portion of the tale via documents I have and genealogy searches. My dad died when I was in second grade, so, there is more I don’t know about him than I do but I know neither of my parents were the type to stay in one place long.

To that end, I went to four different elementary schools and lived in three different apartment complexes while I was in middle school. Finally, at 12, I begged my mother to stay in one place at least until I finished high school. Though a socially awkward seventh grader at Highland Middle School in Bellevue, I generally liked where we were and my classmates, and I just wanted something sort of normal.

My mom agreed to my request. And then she moved out shortly after I finished my first semester at Gonzaga University in 1996. That’s a long story for another time and not one for the newspaper. In any case, we lived there about six years. That was the longest I lived anywhere until we settled in Maple Valley. I spent two years in Spokane then some time in Bellevue then another year or so in Redmond while I finished at University of Washington. After that we spent two and a half years in Las Vegas while my husband finished his bachelor’s degree. Finally after another 18 months in Bellevue saving up, we bought our home in Maple Valley.

All the same things that appeal to people moving in for the past decade appealed to us: a nice, quiet neighborhood that was safe, would be a great place to start a family and the Tahoma School District was highly rated.

Then as we have lived here all the other great things about the community were discovered. Service is part of the lifestyle and not just in Maple Valley. Look at Vine Maple Place, Real Life Church, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, Valley Girls & Guys!, the Black Diamond Historical Society, Wings of Karen, Relay for Life, the Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry, Make a Difference Day, all three of the high schools we cover where students do incredible service projects every year right under our collective noses and on and on and on. I’m sure I forgot something. Feel free to let me know.

People in these communities have raised thousands of pounds of food for those in need, taken care of families during the holidays, replaced gifts stolen from a front porch, chased down would-be purse snatchers, generated hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight cancer from walking around tracks to going door to door in their neighborhoods, taken care of survivors of domestic violence as well as homeless families, helped students who wish to pursue higher education and raised a generation of kind, caring human beings who will not only contribute to society but lead it toward a brighter future.

You get a sense of the spirit of the communities when you go the parades at Maple Valley Days or Covington Days or Miners Days or stop at the farmers markets — I haven’t scoped out the one in Black Diamond yet, but it’s on my to do list — or swing through the summer concert series hosted by Covington or Maple Valley or run in front of a pack of a few dozen people walking from Tahoma High to raise awareness of suicide and prevention. Or that moment I’ll never forget in September 2012 when I walked the Bra Dash 5K at Lake Wilderness, the first time I did anything like that, with about 800 of my closest friends and neighbors on the way to raising $30,000 for breast cancer research in the Puget Sound Region.

Or the day I found out swimmers from Kentwood and Kentridge passed the swim cap around to raise money for Tahoma High student Allie Duven who was out of the water because she was battling cancer this past fall. The money was used to help pay for a wig for Duven while she went through treatment who then turned around donated the extra cash for someone else in need.

Then there’s the email I got from the Covington Chamber of Commerce recently about putting together goody bags for new Kent School District teachers — there are 10 KSD schools in Covington — to welcome them to the community.

I could go on and on. There are so many great things happening because we have so many people from all walks of life in all three cities working to make not just our communities a better place but trying to change the world. There must be something about this part of the state which draws people with this kind of initiative, you know, they see a problem and tackle it rather than sit back waiting for invitation to help out.

There are many reasons I love living as well as working here and what’s incredible about it is that as the communities grow they only get better. This attitude spreads.

That’s what happens when you do the right thing, even when no one is looking, because it’s the right thing to do. People catch on, see the vision and embrace it.

Keep serving the community and changing the world. This kind of approach to life is what makes me never want to live anywhere else. It’s why I have lived here so long. It’s why so many have chosen, as my family has, to put down roots here.

And with those kinds of roots the community will continue to grow strong. It’s nice to settle down finally.