When Texas became a republic, its western border ran along the Rio Grande all the way to its source, in southern Colorado, and then north to the southern border of Wyoming. When I moved to Santa Fe, just east of the Rio Grande, twenty years ago, I convinced myself I was still technically in Texas. I knew that the river would always keep me connected.

Reading Jack Herrera’s recent Texas Monthly cover story on the crisis at the Rio Grande made me wonder just how long it would be until my memories of the river would be all I had. They’re good ones, though.