1 Year in Pueblo, Colorado

By Isaiah Hernandez | Guest Contributor

This was a quote I had grown accustomed to, as I moved around a lot growing up due to my parents being separated for as long as I could remember. I was only seven when Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away came to U.S. theaters, and it seriously altered my creative DNA. Outside of Chihiro’s parents still being together, she was a character I related to immensely.

Now, fast forward to 31-year-old me. I still find comfort in that film because, as generations have done before, I passed on this love and piece of my identity to my own kids, especially when it came time to make our move from California to Colorado in January 2025.

My first taste of Pueblo, Colorado happened over a decade ago, in 2015, when my girlfriend, now wife, invited me to her brother’s undergraduate graduation. I had never been to Colorado prior to then, and I had never heard of Pueblo, but even back then I remember the name having some sort of familiarity and comfort to it. So we packed up and prepared for the road trip, heading north on I-25 that December from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Pueblo, Colorado.

My first thoughts driving into town were that I was blown away by the architecture. My wife’s family is from the East Side and Bessemer, so right away I got to visit both of her grandparents’ homes. I admired the Victorian-style houses, something I wasn’t used to seeing coming from New Mexico and California. The homes were older, and you could tell they had been passed down from generation to generation. From the steel mill to some of the old abandoned buildings near downtown, you could tell this town had a ton of history, one that was truly thriving and expanding in the early to mid-1900s.

So there’s my familiarity with Pueblo. Now let’s talk about why my family and I moved here.

After my wife and I graduated from the University of New Mexico, we moved to San Diego, California. It was a lot of fun, and we built a solid community between work, our neighborhood, and our alumni network. When the coronavirus came and changed our world for the worse, it affected us too and required us to temporarily stay with my mom northeast of San Diego in a town called Menifee.

It was not ideal to leave San Diego, but we also knew that staying with family and saving money on rent was the better decision in the long run. So that’s what we did. We moved to Menifee, and after several months, we purchased our first home in December 2020. It was also at this time that we were expecting our first child.

First came our son, then our daughter, and finally the grand slam, our triplets, all girls. I’ll save that story for another time. Before we knew it, we had five kids under the age of five and quickly outgrew our home in Menifee. Childcare alone in this country is expensive for one child, not to mention five. I continued to work, and my wife had no choice but to stay home with the kids. It was our only option. Thankfully, we had family help.

My in-laws, all the way from Pueblo, Colorado, were here often, especially during the triplet pregnancy, which was high risk. My family also helped, but my mom and I run a family business, so the luxury of having her available all the time was not there. As we fought every day to keep our heads above water, the question my wife and I kept asking was: How do we continue doing this every day without drowning? How do we stay present for our kids, keep the house maintained, feed the triplets, pay the mortgage, handle doctor appointments, and still make sure my wife and I do not forget about each other?

That’s when we knew we had to go where the help was, and that was Pueblo.

So that’s what we did in January 2025. We left Menifee, California, and arrived in Pueblo, Colorado. I would be lying if I said I was not nervous or resistant. I love California, the landscape, the diversity, the food scene, and the year-round warm weather. Selfishly, I wanted to figure it out. But when I took a step back and looked at the bigger picture, this move was more than necessary for the long-term health of my family.

I can confidently say, writing this one year later, that I do not regret our decision at all.

Mentally, this is the happiest I have been in a long time, and we are doing great things as a family. We purchased a new home that can accommodate our family size. Two of my kids are in school. We are close to family again and have that support. I am only a short drive away from my New Mexico family now. I have been fortunate enough to find community here as well, not just with family. The Latino Chamber of Commerce has been a source of community, and honestly, if you go outside and talk to people, you will see firsthand how friendly the people are here.

I believe home is where the heart is. Thank you, Pueblo.

Isaiah Hernandez runs Table Media Group Inc. with his mother, a creative agency offering fractional, full-service marketing for growing companies. He is an independent children’s book author of Logito! and I’m Little Too and now lives in Pueblo, Colorado, with his family.