HATCHED IN THE WRONG STATE 

I was five in 1954, when I first went to Hatch. I fell in love with the state instantly. I have been back every year since, for 60 years. I love my home state of Oklahoma, but I have always felt that I belong in New Mexico. I’ve seen petroglyphs all over the state and climbed the hills from Albuquerque to Las Cruces. I’ve been to old gold and silver mines and old Indian encampments in the desert. I’ve been to cemeteries that date back to before covered wagons came through. I’ve picked cotton in Hatch Valley before chiles, onions, and pecans took over. I have made Indian-type jewelry since 1972, and I get my supplies from Socorro and Albuquerque. I once entered a chile-cooking contest at the Hatch Chile Festival and won first place for my green chile and squash casserole. 

My first wife and I planned to live in Hatch, but she died one year before I retired; otherwise I would have moved there in 1999. I love your magazine, and I share it with other people so they can see how wonderful your state is.
Melvin Fullbright
Sand Springs, OK 

A THUNDEROUS CLIMAX 

There is nowhere better in this entire country to enjoy an opera than the magnificent Santa Fe Opera House. My family and I were attending a production of Madama Butterfly. During the final scene, the heroine was about to take her own life with her father’s dagger. Because the rear of the stage was open, there was a view of the distant mountains, and throughout that evening there had been a lightning storm over them. At the precise moment of Butterfly’s suicide, there was an ear-shattering clap of thunder that left the entire audience breathless and astounded. I will never forget that moment; it was truly my most extraordinary theater experience. And it could not have happened anywhere else. Dorothy Wolfe
Agoura Hills, CA 

GOODBYE, BOY; HELLO, NM 

While living in Colorado, I began dating a Sante Fe artist. When we stopped dating, I realized I wouldn’t miss the high-maintenance boy, but I sure was going to miss New Mexico and Santa Fe! I had just felt so at home here—a feeling I had never experienced in any of the five other states I’ve lived in. I put my house on the market, and it sold in four days. The deal was solidified on Christmas Eve. Six weeks later, on Valentine’s Day, I closed on my house in Eldorado (with a lovely and much-needed studio) and became a Santa Fe resident. Best decision I’ve ever made, and I couldn’t be happier! It’s proof that endings can be wonderful beginnings if you look at them as opportunities.
Christina R. Keibler
Santa Fe