And one year later …

I love living and working in Socorro County, New Mexico.

While tying on a lure out of the back of my SUV alongside the banks of the San Juan River last week, the sweet strains of the Rolling Stones were pouring out of the speakers, and I had one of those moments.

We’ve all had those feelings while listening to music. I’m talking about that moment-in-time tune that triggers an old memory of a lost love, an adventure lived, or even an opportunity gained.

As Mick Jagger and the Stones delivered, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you’ll find, you get what you need,” I had one of those “This song describes what happened to me” moments.

My one-year “getting hired” anniversary is coming up at El Defensor Chieftain at the end of this month, and while on vacation last week, I reflected on the past 13 months of my life since getting an offer letter to work for El Defensor Chieftain.

In the newspaper business, when you go on vacation, you work ahead and plan for the hectic week when you go back to work, and writing a column celebrating my work milestone kept flitting through my head.

What could I focus on to start it? Was there a significant event to lure and hook a reader (I was fishing) with?

The Stones had my answer.

Finding a journalism job in New Mexico is challenging; after numerous checks and seeing the jobs were few and far between, I had gone from daily job searches to weekly ones and eventually monthly ones.

When I first learned of a sports writing job in New Mexico, it was in Valencia County at the newspaper in Belen, and the listing was already a couple of weeks old. Undaunted, I gathered my resume and pictures and wrote an email expressing my interest in the position.

I received a friendly response about the level of my work and the news that the position was filled. Still, a sister newspaper in Socorro was about to start advertising for a sports writer if I was interested in applying.

I called the Chieftain’s then-editor Cathy Cook, who seemed a little amazed somebody a 10-hour drive away was calling about being her sports editor. We hit it off on the phone and even more so in person when I quietly visited Socorro in June.

While my job interview only took about an hour, I spent the best two days in Socorro exploring the area and meeting people. I learned that the sports fans around here love their teams and truly missed consistent sports coverage.

I had just spent a year covering three high schools in Texas. The larger school (that demanded more coverage) wasn’t the crown jewel of a mostly retired community. The two smaller schools were the exact opposite, with a loyal fan base, and they quickly became my favorite teams to cover.

It boiled down to Socorro County seeming to need someone like me, and I longed to cover schools like Socorro, Magdalena, and Alamo.

For the lack of better words, there was a calling out here in New Mexico, I answered it, and it’s been one of the best decisions of my life.

I was so ready to start when I got here that I covered the Magdalena and Socorro volleyball match before I was officially an employee of the newspaper. The in-county rivalry was a 3-2 affair won by Magdalena only confirmed my thoughts Socorro County was the place for me.

Since then, I have had the privilege and joy of covering championship runs, and I have suffered through the heartbreak of lost championships. I am a “homer” in my sports coverage because all your kids are “my kids,” and I hurt when they hurt.

There’s another high school sports season only a couple of weeks away, and I’m looking forward to bringing you the photos and stories about the athletic accomplishments of our community’s young men and women.

Thank you, Socorro County. I didn’t get what I initially thought I wanted, but man, I sure did get what I needed.