September is Hispanic Heritage Month and should be extra-special for our Valley.

Not that others haven’t made contributions of their heritage to the area, but other than some native tribes, the people who came from New Mexico to settle here very early, the Hispanic heritage has been born and bred here.

We have some amazing Hispano, Latino, Spanish-surnamed and more recent immigrants from Latin America who have taken the reins and are leading our world.

Our food has the bite of the Latino and Indio, our bread may have been baked by Mennonites, but we still yearn for Navajo tacos and soft, hot sopapillas.

Almost everyone can make tortillas or knows someone who is an expert.

I was once told in Canada that my accent was from south of the border.

It made me smile and the person I was talking with smiled, as well.

She said she had taken a trip to Guanajuato in her youth.

I said I was born and raised in Colorado. The oldest city in Colorado is near my birthplace.

She wanted some history and I willingly shared.

She still heard an accent. Perhaps it’s my penchant for proper pronunciation.

I gave her my address, but she didn’t write.

That’s not disturbing. I meet new people every day.

People meet me, as well.

As I look back on my life, I realize I have always been familiar with two languages, English and Spanish.
It would be nice if everyone were.

Gratitude overwhelms me as I notice that many people are fluent and well aware of our area’s history. As an old native once said when talking of clinging to his Conejos County roots, “You gotta dance with the one that brung you.”

When I hear someone complaining about how “backward” the Valley is, I bite my tongue.

We may seem backward, but if disaster hits the metro area, they will be grateful for our tortillas and beans, then sit amazed as they are told how nutritious and inexpensive it is.

There is history and heritage all over down here. History is what happened, heritage still remains.

In common language, history is an account of events that have happened in the past, while heritage stands for things such as works of art, cultural achievements and folklore that have passed on from earlier generations to the present generation.

Gratitude is what I feel that we cherish it so.