Transient is used to describe Jasper on multiple occasions. People come, people go, people come back, people go again, so on and so forth. Anyone that has lived in this town longer than one season can vouch for that.

After my first season at JPL, where I was living in old staff with 36 other girls in the classy, and contagious ‘M’ Cabin, I felt the brunt of the people that go. Come the end of September, it was myself and one other girl. The rest of the cabin, once bustling with hair dryers, boy talk, arguments, gossip, puking on Mondays and much more, was now quiet. It was almost eerie to walk down the corridor late at night, but somewhat peaceful.

That summer, I took so many people to the Greyhound, waved so many more goodbye on the Sundog and said a couple goodbyes at the airport. Some of those people came back the following summer, much to my surprise. Others, I went and visited in their respective homes throughout Canada - Ottawa, Montreal, St. Andrews, Newfoundland.

The reason for my melodramatic rant this week is a few hard and regretful goodbyes of late - thankfully everything happens in three’s right? So I should be good now until the end of the summer! Here’s hoping.

My first was a lodgie, my bestest buddy who came to Jasper, for just over a year, to work at the lodge upon my recommendation of the beauty and fun of Jasper. We hugged goodbye at the Grizz, said our “see you laters” and I rode back into town - my eyes welled at the prospect of life without her instant input into daily life. 

You may be more familiar with the second. My co-worker, friend and arch-rival Fitzicuff, Daniel Z. Jacobs left us and headed home - a quick hug goodbye in the office and he was gone. Not a day later, in his chair sat the replacement, Matt, quite surreal how quickly things can change. 

A little unique and unqualified for the transient title was the third. A “true local” if you like departed Jasper with his eyes set on the horizons of the southern hemisphere. A dance goodbye, a hug farewell and my life has to just keep moving on - though the rain on Monday so well depicted my mood after three weeks of consecutive and significant so longs. 

I’ve now realized that it doesn’t get easier, at least not for me. I’m sure for some people it does and I think some people in Jasper actually turn themselves off from the emotion attached with saying goodbye. Most people seem to know when their looming departure date is, which gives people time to deal with the loss and almost cut themselves away from the pain before it hits. I fear the cliche, but sometimes they’re okay, is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?

I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds it hard to cut ties and stand by as one of your closest buddies wave goodbye through the slimey Greyhound window. I’m sure there are many employers in this town that understand the term ‘transient’ all too well, for its good side and its bad side. As an employer it must be so frustrating to watch somebody you’ve trained, taught, spent hours and hours with, disappear into the unknown world ahead of them, leaving you behind your counter, washing dishes with the next 18-year-old employee that takes your eye.

Is it safe to assume, in Jasper at least, that everybody has an expiry date? After working in the hotel industry I’ve become all too familiar with the five foot rule, should that apply to our relationships in this quaint little town? Yes, we can be friends, but no, we may not get close and furthermore, if you could just stand over there when you leave it’ll be easier for me to look the other way and pretend you were never here. 

Certainly, for a twenty-five-year-old that left home alone to come and venture into the snowy peaks of Canada, the people here (and before here) are my friends, and my family. Long term friends that I don’t say goodbye to, but instead I say “see ya later alligator!” And smile as I bid them farewell and safety on their journey to their next location.

I, for one, believe that it’s important to treasure what we have and in the moment, rather than waiting with bated breath for next month when they leave.

What do you think? How do you deal with saying goodbye? There are so many people in this town that must be so familiar with that horrible feeling of letting someone important go and wondering when the next time you’ll sit down for coffee or dance to your favourite song with.

After two years of sad farewells it just seems to be the rhythm of Jasper. People come, people go, people come back, people go again, but what if I go before they come back? Do I have an expiry date as well?