My third grade daughter came home from school with a brown paper bag. She was told to put five things in the bag that would help the class get to know her better. With so many new families moving into our City of Vision, I thought I would do the same thing as a little introduction to help acquaint them with a few aspects of their new community. And for those “townies” out there, you will appreciate this too.

But I am taking this one step further. To help give you some perspective, I have asked my family to each put something into the proverbial bag that best represents Rio Rancho to them. Not only will you get a woman’s perspective but also a child’s, a teenager’s and a husband’s perspective as well. Let’s open Rio Rancho’s brown paper bag and see what we’ve got.

First up, I find a Beanie baby placed in the bag by my eight year old. This fuzzy white wolf with a red tag on his ear symbolizes the wildlife that live among us. I know if a coyote would wander into our backyard my daughter would try to feed it, give it a toy and make it a bed by the back door. And while we’re at it, we might as well mention scorpions, centipedes and brown recluse spiders in this category; although I don’t think she intended to include them. These crawly creatures could be considered the flip side of cuddly but still a part of life in the southwest as we know it.

My teenage daughter has chosen a paint brush. This artist’s wand represents the breathtaking backdrop we are so lucky to live amidst. She reminds me often, usually around dinner time as it catches her eye “Sandia means watermelon in Spanish, and the mountains are named so because of the red color they turn at sunset”. Included in this portrait is the multi-colored, multi-textured landscape with its green grasses, gray bushes and blue sagebrush sprinkled with yellow, purple and orange wildflowers. Our stunning sunrises and sunsets are awesome; ranging in color from soft salmon to deep scarlet depending on their moods rival any sky in the world.

My husband has dipped into his “freezer collection” and put in some hail stones and a frozen snow ball from last winter to represent the exciting weather of Rio Rancho. Being an avid weather watcher, alright let’s just say fanatic and get it right out there on the table, he collects weather souvenirs during the winter months and proudly takes them out every Fourth of July. His weather station monitors the temperatures, snow falls and his ever favorite monsoons with every statistic imaginable. God forgive me; one time I almost put one of his snowballs in my glass of lemonade.

And lastly in our bag, I chose the brass heart shaped paperweight from my desk. This decorative object illustrates the compassionate character of many of the people I have met here, and I am not alone in this observation. The kindness of strangers and their hearts of gold make anyone feel welcome and proud to call this place home. Oh, and let me add a small bottle of honey for the sopapillas. These warm pillows of fried dough were a pleasant surprise when I first discovered them. I’ll take two: One for here and one to go!

So, that is it for our rendition of This is Your Life Rio Rancho. I hope it has given you a little peek into the City of Vision. Wait a minute, who put this Victoria’s Secret catalog in here? Oh, honey?

Quote of the Week: “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with” – Dorothy to Glinda in The Wizard of Oz.