Depends on Your Goal

But, despite having every right to, he doesn't judge people for when their relationship with this town began. Pablo simply has something I (and many of us) do not: a connection to this land and these hills that goes beyond anything else that has happened in his life. He is among a very specific demographic of Santa Feans, whose families have lived here for multiple generations, and watched it change since a time before anyone thought it ever would. Strangers might look at Pablo's life, and where he is and how he lives these days, and foolishly pity him for not having experienced more of the world. It would be a shortsighted judgment. They can't see the context that brought him there.

He tells it like this: As a child, it was paradise. In the '70s, kids weren't allowed inside. After school (or in the morning, during the endless summers), everyone would meet in a backyard or arroyo and you weren't expected to come home until dinner. After that brief pit stop, you were right back out to meet with your friends and you'd sleep under the stars in the yard most nights of the year, only going back inside in the morning to eat, shower, and get ready for the next day. Like Calvin from the funny pages, Pablo's childhood was one mostly spent enjoying the wonders of the natural habitat he was born into.

Entering that middle phase, like many of us, Pablo lost sight of the natural beauty and wonder around him. Even then, though, he was surrounded by family. Throughout high school, he worked almost full time for his parents, and while most of his classmates were broke and complaining about how there was nothing to do in town, to whatever extent he agreed with them, Pablo generally found things a bit more comfortable. And after that, when others jumped at any chance to move, he found it easier to stay.

As Santa Fe exploded, he became more attached to the unspoiled paradise just outside it. The years went by, and he once again began to appreciate the trails and the mountains. The drive to go fishing became as much a pleasure as the fishing itself. His sisters, who had married and moved to Texas and Nevada, moved back one by one.

Now he's in his 40s, and he has a longer list of older friends than most people. He has one group of friends from elementary school that has hung out every Wednesday for the last 12 years without missing a week.

We joke about how Santa Fe is a bit of a dead end for those with their hearts set on bigger things. He tells me about the few opportunities he's had to go somewhere else, and how he "just kind of chickened out." But he grins about it, and there's not an ounce of regret in his voice. Maybe Santa Fe is a bit of a dead end in some ways, but, as Pablo so perfectly puts it, "That depends on what your goal is."

Santa Fe Reporter