If you have abandonment issues, Jasper’s not the place for you.
That is, of course, unless you’re on the hunt for a tough love cure for those issues. In that case, you couldn’t have picked a better place. In this town, at least twice a year, you’ll find yourself looking around for your friends—who were seemingly there just a moment ago—and somehow, suddenly, they’re nowhere to be found.
For those who choose to stick around beyond their initial four-month seasonal contract, the act of waving goodbye to friends becomes common place, and the exodus of September and May is an ominous cloud over the summer and winter seasons.
You spend months bracing yourself, knowing full well it’s going to hurt.
And then soon, with every new person you meet, you find yourself asking, should I commit to this friendship knowing my companion is just going to leave in a few short months? Is it worth the pain? Can I take another goodbye?
For those who have been in Jasper for any number of years, the answer to those questions is often a resounding “No.” The walls are firmly entrenched, protecting them from yet another painful farewell.
So, when they meet a fresh faced newcomer, they ask, “How long do you plan to stay?” Ah yes, that terrible question that every new arrival dreads. The question that feels like a boot out the door before you’ve even unpacked.
That’s the plight of a new Jasperite trying to find their place in a transient tourist town full of seasonal workers. Every six months they’re forced to say goodbye to their pals who were just “here for a good time, not a long time,” as Trooper so eloquently put it, and in the meantime they continue exchanging meaningless pleasantries with the lifers, who hide behind their walls.
Here at the Fitzhugh we’ve had our fair share of farewells. In fact, this week we say goodbye to our reporter Sarah Makowsky, who’s moving on to Police Recruit Training in Lethbridge.
Sarah’s been with the paper since November 2012—about twice as long as the typical seasonal worker—and has been a great asset to both the paper and the town.
For us, although her stay was short, it was worth getting to know her. She brought laughter to the newsroom with her puns and unfortunate love of cat memes and she brought creativity to the paper through her stories and photos.
Here in the office, we’re glad we took the time to get to know her as a friend. We hope, even though we feel the pain of her departure, we’ll again be able to welcome our new reporter, Trevor Nichols, with the same embrace, keeping our walls down and our minds open.
