I’m saying goodbye to many things this week, as I prepare to leave my job at the Fitzhugh. 

Being a journalist is all about the next step up – and for me the next step up is the Cranbrook Daily Townsman, in Cranbrook, B.C.

I want to thank everybody in Jasper who let me become a photographer and further expand my writing abilities in your wonderful town. I never expected to leave after just over a year here, believe me. 

I still have so many things to do that didn’t get done. As I toured around Jasper with our new photojournalist, Tiffany Smith, I pointed out things I had to do before I left and realized I had compiled a seriously lengthy list. I still haven’t done the Tramway or hiked Old Fort Point – in fact I didn’t do any of the hiking I had hoped to get to this year. I did however explore the Pyramid Bench and Cottonwood Slough on horseback, which was amazing. I took full advantage of Marmot Basin and became a much better skier – and to that end I’m already planning a trip back for this winter to hit the slopes again. I’ve added a few Jasper-related items to my bucket list, such as a canoe trip on Maligne Lake to the backcountry campgrounds. 

As I write this, the time to complete everything I want to do is growing shorter. It’s a bit like a fuze burning down, and my Saturday moving day is when it’s all going to explode into a flurry of activity. 

I’m also saying goodbye to a very important thing in my life, and that is my Beagle/Basset Hound named Ziggy, who after chugging along in life for 14 years is too sick to continue. My family has been forced to make the decision that all pet owners one day dread – and that is whether it’s humane to let your pet live in pain or not. In Ziggy’s case the ulcers in his eyes that have made him blind are now causing him a lot of pain. 

I figure this is Ziggy’s last stand in a life full of being a stubborn little bugger. I’ve written about Ziggy’s shenanigans before, his love of fish guts and bones. Ziggy was never a great listener – he knew full-well what his name was and what it meant when you called him, but he chose to ignore it and would look back at you as you chased him down the driveway, or wherever Ziggy decided was an important place to be. When you caught up to him, he would roll over slowly onto his back with his paws crooked in the air, and create a big fat pile of dead weight that was impossible to carry back into the yard. If you moved him, he’d cry. If you managed to get him on his feet again, he would resist any pressure to pull him and often it would result in the collar slipping off his head and a further hassle. 

With Ziggy leaving me, I’m both sad and relieved for him. I kept telling him every time I saw him that it was okay to let go. I had even started to believe he may be a robot dog that is incapable of dying. It turns out he isn’t invincible, and the little hound I have loved since I was eight years old is moving on, and with him goes one of the final links to my childhood, I suppose. I’ll miss you Ziggy dog, or Piggy as I have been calling him lately. 

As for leaving Jasper, I’m excited about my new job, yet sad to leave all the great friends I’ve made, and to leave behind the unfinished things I didn’t get around to during my time here. Luckily my new home is only five hours away – and there’s always next summer. 

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writer’s own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.