WHAT’S SO FUNNY: Are you missing it?

Humans have a great capacity for taking their good fortune for granted. Or at least I do; I don’t really know that much about humans.

I was reminded of this last week when I greeted some visitors from Chicago and took them to the Hotel Laguna for lunch. The way they acted you’d think I was the doorman to paradise.

It was a nice day “” you know the kind. The vista from our outdoor table was outstandingly clear, blue on blue. The temperature was perfect, which it wasn’t in most of the rest of the country.

My guests were overwhelmed by the view, the sun, the ocean, the beach, the air “” their reaction to Laguna provided one of my periodic reminders that I’m happy here.

There are many days here that demand to be appreciated, but I don’t notice most of them. Now and then a sunset or a view of Catalina dazzles me, but most of the time I could be walking around with a bag on my head.

When I was a little boy, if there was a favorite show on TV and my grandmother didn’t come in from another room fast enough to see it, I’d yell, “You’re missing it! You’re missing it!” I was a fun kid.

Now when visitors marvel at the life I’m living here, I realize I’m the one who’s been missing it.

When I first saw Laguna I reacted as my guests did: The town captivated me instantly, not only because of its beauty and climate but because of its arts background and its lack of pretension.

It was all the more attractive to me because I lived in Santa Ana, which, whatever its merits, will never be a tourist magnet.

I’ve lived here now for 22 years and by any comparative criterion I’ve got it so good I should wear a perpetual blush.

At the Hotel Laguna, however, I took the beautiful day as a given. I was much more concerned about whether they’d have the right sauce for the calamari appetizer. (They did, thank Heaven. Which reminds me, I wouldn’t appreciate Heaven either.)

It seems sad that I can only tell I’m happy if somebody points out that I should be. And I can only appreciate my good fortune if someone envies it.

But there it is. So bring on the visitors, and keep ‘em coming. Their envy makes my day.

Meanwhile I’ll try to get downtown to look around a little more. It’s a nice place if you take the bag off your head.

SHERWOOD KIRALY is a Laguna Beach resident. He has written four novels, three of which were critically acclaimed.