No place is perfect. We could dwell on the challenges faced by Broward County, but frankly, after a year of rising unemployment, plummeting property values, corruption charges against our public officials and horrifying violence among our youth, we’re a little tired.

So let’s put that all aside for a moment and look on the bright side — because, yes, there is a bright side. There truly are many reasons to be thankful to live in Broward County. Let’s look at a few as we count our blessings.

Outdoor living all year round
By the end of this month, the hurricane season will be behind us and we can look forward to the best that South Florida’s climate has to offer. Sun and balmy ocean breezes are wonderful for adults; people come from all over the world to enjoy them. But that’s not the best of it. Imagine raising kids in less welcoming weather – struggling with snowsuits, boots, mittens, scarves. Every day. On every
child. For months on end. Think about that when you are taking your child to soccer practice in shorts in December, bike-riding in January, or the outdoor school carnival in February.

We turn trash to treasure
When county officials began talking about turning the Davie Landfill into a park years ago, some people thought the idea was laughable. Who would want to romp and play in the final resting place of more than 20 years of accumulated garbage?

Plenty of people, it turns out, if the site were handled properly. Broward County recently received a national award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the transformation of the landfill into Vista View Park. The award is one of only eight awarded in the nation by EPA for site reuse.

“Broward County had a vision for this park,” Vice Mayor Suzanne Gunzburger said in accepting the award this summer. “A landfill that was once on the EPA Superfund list is now a super regional park for everyone to enjoy.”

Early on, Broward County saw the potential of putting a park on the site of the former landfill, which operated between 1964 and 1987. The county cleaned up the area and installed roads, drainage and landscaping, but five years passed after the landfill was closed before it obtained enough funding to complete the project.

Vista View Park, located at 4001 SW 142 Ave., opened in July 2003. The park’s popularity led the county to purchase more land nearby for an expansion that opened in November 2009. Activities include horseback riding, biking, a fitness trail, rollerblading, paragliding, primitive camping, radio-controlled plane flying and boating, catch-and-release fishing, and two playgrounds.

We can travel back in time
Remember those old postcards that depicted Florida as a tropical paradise full of flamingos and lush landscapes? It may be hard to make the connection between that image and today’s Broward County, especially when you’re driving through traffic on University Drive. But that place still exists, and not just in your fantasies.

You can find it at Flamingo Gardens in Davie, where you can escape into 60 acres of lush botanical gardens that showcase exotic and native plants, animals and birds. Home to an old orange grove back in the day, the property has been magnificently preserved as a historic site and wildlife sanctuary.

Visitors can take a tram tour of the groves and the Wray Botanical Collection, experience the free-flight aviary, see wildlife presentations, explore the historic 1930s Wray Home, or just enjoy the ambiance. And yes, there are flamingos to be seen. Bring your camera to take a stunning family Christmas card picture that will make your northern friends and family green with envy. The backdrop might even look just like one of those old postcards.

We Grow Minds
There’s not a school system in the country that is not facing difficulties these days, so we won’t pretend everything is 100 percent peachy-keen in the public schools. There have been budget cuts and then tax increases; teacher layoffs followed by rehires (and a frantic job fair to fill vacancies); schedule changes because the new state law on class size limits was not adhered to; and those ever-shifting school boundaries upset a new set of parents and students each year. And don’t even get us started on the FCAT.

But Broward County’s public schools can also boast that 10 high schools and one charter high school were recognized among Newsweek magazine’s 2009 Top High Schools in the Nation. The system continues to lead the nation, for the fifth consecutive year, in the number of National Board Certified Teachers. And the share of Broward teachers who have earned an advanced degree (i.e. a master’s degree or doctorate) is 47 percent.

If you’re wondering how it all balances out, consider this: the district was among four school systems nationwide named in September by the National School Boards Association as a finalist for the 2010 Council of Urban Boards of Education Annual Award for Urban School Board Excellence.

Our libraries merit checking out
Did you know Broward County is home to the largest public library in Florida – the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center at Nova Southeastern University? Look it up.

NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library is a special partnership between the university and Broward’s library system, which is always seeking new ways to serve residents. Another gem? The African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, which houses more than 85,000 books, manuscripts, artifacts and documents with special emphasis on the history of people of African, African- American and Caribbean descent.

Broward County’s library system, the ninth largest in the United States, is a veritable magical portal to learning, opportunity and enrichment. With 37 branches, it offers far more than books. There are writing workshops, music and art programs, consumer and health seminars, bilingual storytimes, and tutoring for the FCAT and SAT.

This month, on Saturday, November 20th, there’s the annual StoryBook Festival for families at the Southwest Regional Library in Pembroke Pines. Check it out. If you don’t already have a library card, get one. And make sure your child has one, too.

We have our own special washing machine
With 23 miles of oceanfront, there’s a beach to satisfy every taste, from the festive Hollywood Broadwalk to the low-key stretch of sand overlooking the Hillsboro Lighthouse. You can sit on the edge of the ocean and let the waves wash away your cares. Or, you can participate in a nearly endless array of water sports – swimming, boating, fishing, snorkeling, diving, wakeboarding, kite-surfing, rowing and parasailing. How many other communities offer such options? What’s more, Broward is celebrating 10 years of consecutive recognition from the Clean Beaches Council, an environmental group based in Washington DC. The whole area – including Hollywood, Dania Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach – was first in Florida to be designated a Blue Wave Beach, an award based on excellence in water quality, safety services and habitat conservation. If you haven’t been to the beach lately, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Round and round we go
We can go round and round in circles without looking silly — at the Velodrome at Brian Piccolo Park. The facility, in Cooper City, is the only velodrome in Florida and one of only three in the southeastern U.S.

The Brian Piccolo Velodrome has two tracks for both competitive cycling and recreational cycling and in-line skating. The facility offers cycling development programs for both adults and children, as well as developmental classes for beginning, intermediate, and advanced skaters. Evening and weekend sessions are available.

Brian Piccolo’s new Road Course, adjacent to the Velodrome and Skate Park, is open from 8am to dusk daily for both cyclists and in-line speed skaters. It is a paved course that includes both 500-meter and 800-meter loops. Except for special events, there is no charge to use the facility, although the park’s regular weekend gate entrance fee applies.

For more information, call 954-357-5160.

Other people look up to us
C’mon. Admit it. It feels nice to be admired. And Broward County’s communities have received their fair share of positive attention. For example:

CORAL SPRINGS was selected as the nation’s first municipality to receive
the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

COOPER CITY was named “One of the Ten Best Towns for Families” by Family Circle in 2007.

FORT LAUDERDALE – long known as the “Venice of America” for its canals and nautical ambiance – was recently ranked as one of the country’s “100 Best Places to Live and Launch a Business” by CNN Money.

HOLLYWOOD was selected as an “All-America City” for its initiatives on behalf of early childhood literacy, community involvement and affordable housing.

PLANTATION was named one of “100 Best Communities for Young People” in 2008 by America’s Promise Alliance, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to children and youth.

CORAL SPRINGS, MIRAMAR and WESTON have been named among the 100 best small cities in America by Money magazine.

We have a fishing museum
Not just any fishing museum, mind you, but the International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame. No one else, anywhere, can lay claim to that bit of prestige. Of course it makes perfect sense in Broward County, one of the fishing capitals of the world.

Whether you are an angler from way back, or are just humoring the husband by visiting, you’ll still find something of interest at this tribute to the relationship between man and sea. There are video presentations, virtual fishing games, displays, an outdoor boardwalk through the marsh, and hands-on activities for the kids. The museum also offers marine educational programs and fishing clinics for families. For information, see www.igfa.org or call 954-924-4309.

We have our own Wonder Woman
We are very proud to be able to claim Olympic swimmer Dara Torres as our own. A resident of Parkland, Torres was an inspiration to middle aged mommies everywhere when she participated in her fifth Olympics in 2008 and, at age 41,
became the oldest Olympic swimming medalist ever.

Mommy to a preschooler, Torres recently returned to training at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex in hopes of returning to the Olympics in 2012. She is said to be concentrating on the 50-meter freestyle, the event she missed winning by .01 second at Beijing.

She already has won a record-tying 12 Olympic medals overall, and she recently underwent radical knee surgery, as well as a procedure on her left shoulder. So why is she doing this? “It’s kind of fun to have the challenge of it to see if I can do it or not,” she told the media. “I always enjoy challenges… I’m doing it for myself.” That’s the stuff Broward County mommies are made of. And mommies, whether they win medals or drive the carpool, are something for which to be truly thankful.