Ashley and Marshall
It has been our hope that in our children's pursuit of happiness, it is not the finding of happiness that they will long for, but rather the sustaining of the happiness already in their hearts and minds.
We wish such happiness not to be defined by things they possess, but by a set of commonly shared core values, where they can immerse themselves in such values through experiences on a daily basis, anchor happiness through such immersion, and steadily build strengths through such happiness in the long run. We are fortunate that the MMS community has transformed our wish into a reality, and appreciate every opportunity to reciprocate our love back to this vibrant community.
We applaud MMS' initiating and continuing efforts on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion front. Achieving true DEI is like trying to reach the Northstar, which is not likely possible. However, it is the act of setting one's eyes on the Northstar and using it as a guiding light for one's life journey that hopefully will ultimately converge all of our paths towards a future where our differences are openly shared, learned, accepted, and celebrated.
We value creativity in all forms. Marshall is an avid guitar player. Ashley enjoys creative writing, painting, and drawing. We always encourage Holland and Logan to express themselves through drawing, painting, story-telling, and imaginative play and we often do these activities together. You'll always find lots of guitars and art supplies around our house.
We both grew up close to the water and around boats as kids. Marshall is from Halifax, Nova Scotia and Ashley is a Marin local (born and raised in Belvedere). We've always lived near the water (New York, Hong Kong, San Francisco) and we can't imagine living away from the ocean.
Our children's grandparents are from New Brunswick and Newfoundland (Eastern Canada) on Marshall's side and Hillsborough (California) and Buenos Aires on Ashley's side. We have not taken the kids to Canada or Argentina yet, but we have lots of family, and we look forward to introducing them to once things return to normal!
Kindness and compassion are important values we want our children to uphold as future citizens of the world. People and situations are often much more interesting and complex than we imagine them to be. We hope our children understand that people bring many varied perspectives and experiences to bear and that it's important to honor the differences with kindness, compassion, and grace, even when it's hard to do – those moments are often when it's needed the most.