Coming to New Mexico--What's Your Story? (Albuquerque, Las Cruces: big house, buying, living in)

[clairz]

Originally Posted by ziaAirmac

Exactly! You can't put a price on the journey and I'll bet where you're at now is better than most on the planet. In hindsight, could you have ended up with more dollars? Sure, that's one of the benefits of hindsight. But the real question is would you trade who you are, and what you learned from your experiences for those dollars? Judging from your regularly balanced and thoughtful posts I'd be willing to bet 'no.'.

What a balanced and thoughtful thing to say! Thank you (seriously) for your very kind words, Zia.

We will continue the journey a little bit more, here in New Mexico, since old habits die hard.

~clairz

[ziaAirmac]

One of the wonderful things about New Mexico is the geographic diversity. It let's you get your 'wandering jones' fulfilled without leaving the state.

[South Valley Gal]

I was born and raised in New Jersey - a great place to be FROM - and then went to Boston for college, and like half the city stayed on afterwards. Spent a total of 20 years there, hating the ugly, muggy summers, and the cold, damp winters - but hey, that's how it is, right?

No - that's how it is in the Northeast, NOT in the rest of the country. A friend of mine came out to Boulder to do a men's rite of passage thing, and squeaked about how beautiful it was there, and two years later we moved to Boulder and my whole life came into focus. When we got out of the car on our finding-a-place-to-live trip out a month before we moved, I turned to him and said, "We've been living like ANIMALS for the last 40+ years! This is how life should be!" Low humidity, endless blue sky above - heaven, absolute heaven.

He and I parted ways a few years later, and I moved to Albuquerque on my own, with the intention of eventually attending Michael Moore's herb school here. He'd accepted me several years in a row, but between the tuition and having to re-locate for less than a year, I just couldn't make it. When my household in Boulder broke up, I figured it was a sign, and took a deep breath and made the move - on a shoestring, and let me tell you, it was a near thing. I didn't know anyone here in town, I had very little money put aside, and it took me MUCH longer than I'd thought/hoped/anticipated to find an even halfway decent-paying job. I came within 3 days of being evicted from my little casita (along with my 2 elderly cats!) when things FINALLY clicked and I started digging myself out of the financial hole I'd gotten into.

It was a scary time for me, but it never had any effect on my absolutely insane love for New Mexico. I'd fallen in love with it when I came down the first time to see about moving here; it took me another 8 months to get out of Boulder, and I dreamed about Albuquerque and New Mexico almost every night. I didn't have a clue how I was going to afford the move - I was living paycheck to paycheck in Boulder - but then a payout from an old account of my mother's (who'd been dead for 11 years at this point) came out of the blue, and it was JUST the target amount I'd set for myself as being enough to move. Once again, I figured it was a sign and began packing.

I've never regretted the here for one minute of the 14 years I've lived here. I've made wonderful friends, found a place for myself at the University of New Mexico and will retire from here in another 6 or 7 years, and plan to live out the rest of my life under the bowl of the New Mexico sky. "The land of room enough and time enough," to quote M. Scott Momaday. Yes indeed. I can think of no place more beautiful than this, and consider it a privilege to live here.

Blessings to all on this thread on this beautiful, beautiful day.

[catman]

What a lovely post. I can hardly wait to move there myself. Until then, I'll just look forward to my next vacation. (I have two elderly cats too!) Colorado is beautiful, but it's too harsh in winter and doesn't have the cultural mix of New Mexico.

[South Valley Gal]

This is such an interesting thread - and such interesting posters, too. A Red Sox fan (GO SOX!), and a fretless bass lover - both would be/are great additions, both on this board and in New Mexico.

Thanks for the good words, catman. I loved the way Colorado LOOKED - those Rockies, wow - but I was put off by... well, let's be polite and use your phrase, the lack of "cultural mix." I heard ugly words used to describe Black, Mexican, and gay people in everyday conversation - words my mother would have washed my mouth out with soap if I'd ever said them in her company - and it hurt my heart and my ears to be surrounded by that kind of intolerance. One of the many - endless! - things I love about New Mexico is the general air of tolerance. We've got some wickedly weird people here - survivalists dug into bunkers, religious cults waiting for the world to end, banditos hiding out, you name it, they're living here - but somehow it all seems to work out, mostly because people just LEAVE EACH OTHER ALONE. There isn't that relentless busybody thing you get in other parts of the country, people poking themselves into your life and trying to tell you what you should and shouldn't do, and I really like that. I'm passing weird myself, so I'm grateful to finally find a place where I can just be myself and not have people treat me like I'm from another planet.

[Maliades]

It is interesting, isn't it? I can absolutely relate to all those who said New Mexico 'called' them. It calls me. It wants me. I have to move there. My soul is alive when I am in New Mexico.... I really don't know why. We lived in Edgewood (3rd house past Mike's Friendly Stop on Route 66, I believe the mail instructions were - no address) when I was 2 years old, until I was 4 years old. We've been back many times since then, various vacations & visiting aunts & uncles still in the area. New Mexico just got into me, I guess. A couple years ago my fiancee came with me to Albuquerque, and it got him too. We are planning on moving to Santa Fe in 2011 so I can go to Art Therapy school, and then we'll figure out where in NM we want to live. South Valley Girl, I really like what you said about the 'wickedly weird people' that's just awesome! That environment appeals to me.

[catman]

I've wanted to live in NM since the early 1960s, when my grandparents took me to Eagle Nest. I can still remember how it felt to be in NM. It calls me always, but I haven't been able to pull up stakes and move yet, although I've been there about ten times since.

Sometimes I wonder where I would go on a vacation if I lived there. Somewhere else in NM, I guess.

[Ketabcha]

Originally Posted by Maliades

It is interesting, isn't it? I can absolutely relate to all those who said New Mexico 'called' them. It calls me. It wants me. I have to move there. My soul is alive when I am in New Mexico.... I really don't know why. We lived in Edgewood (3rd house past Mike's Friendly Stop on Route 66, I believe the mail instructions were - no address) when I was 2 years old, until I was 4 years old. We've been back many times since then, various vacations & visiting aunts & uncles still in the area. New Mexico just got into me, I guess. A couple years ago my fiancee came with me to Albuquerque, and it got him too. We are planning on moving to Santa Fe in 2011 so I can go to Art Therapy school, and then we'll figure out where in NM we want to live. South Valley Girl, I really like what you said about the 'wickedly weird people' that's just awesome! That environment appeals to me.

New Mexico, Me Encanta.
I retired from a federal agency a couple of years ago. Our region included Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Our area management meetings were held in Albuquerque once a year.

The first time I was in Albuquerque I felt such a sense of serenity and peace. I love that area of the country. I would look forward to the drive between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The highway was good and the lightning shows in the far distance were amazing to watch.

New Mexico is a wonderful place.

[mtlogger]

Been in NM on dozens of trips, never felt more relaxed as when on the Rez - they all beckon to me, but I refuse to accept.

I put in a bid on a large tract near Quemado, but the bank who owns it rejected the offer, so I walked on it. Guess what happened? The bank sent a letter last week accepting the offer. Well, I turned it down - because they scratched out the line about the "rights". I want the "rights" - without it the land is worthless and they know it.

I'll find something down there - maybe in Mayhill or Cloudcroft - way up high.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by catman

Sometimes I wonder where I would go on a vacation if I lived there. Somewhere else in NM, I guess.

I know the feeling! I've lived here for 13 years full time and had traveled extensively prior to retirement. So when I try to think of where I might like to go, it always comes down to, "why go anywhere?" The one place I can think of that I'd like to see before I bow out is New Zealand. Maybe next summer (their summer).