It’s been almost 12 years since my husband came back to our home in California and told me of a little town called Cortez that he discovered on a road trip through the southwest.

He talked me into coming out with him a year later, and I fell in love with Cortez almost immediately. One of the things that really impressed us both was that as we drove slowly up and down neighborhood streets, small children playing in their fronts yards would look up and smile and wave at us. What a wonderful thing that is to see in this day and age.

And people smile back when you smile at them, and will even chat with you while you’re waiting in line at the store.

We only spent a few days here, but I felt homesick after we left. “Coming home to a place you’ve never been before....” I finally understood those lyrics from John Denver. We sold our house and business, left family (two of them have since moved here as well), and less than three months later, we were living here. We have never regretted our spur-of-the moment decision, and count ourselves lucky to have stumbled into this wonderful community.

Why write this letter after all these years? A few days ago, as I walked to the edge of the diving board at the city pool and hesitated slightly, taken aback by the bouncy nature of it, I heard a tiny voice from a small girl standing at the side of the pool watching me. “You can do it” she said encouragingly. A small reminder of what brought us here in the first place – a sense of kindness and community that doesn’t exist everywhere else.

So to all the parents who take the time to raise your children to be friendly and kind, even to a stranger: Thank you. The little ones are the future of what we are proud to now call our hometown, and it seems to me it is in very good hands.

Anna Westphal

Cortez