miss you

Dear mountain, yea I know I’m writing to you in English since you are in Banff and probably you wouldn’t understand my French anyway. 

It’s been over 15 years since we met.  I saw you the first time when I arrived in Banff on July 4^th. Ohh yea I remember that day perfectly, traveled from Edmundston NB to Calgary, jumping from plane to plane and at some point, my suitcase didn’t follow... yea that’s my luck.  After driving from Calgary up to the main gate of Banff National Park I was already amazed by the size of those mountains!  I remember the three sisters on my way to camp.  Once arrived in town, I saw you, I saw that you where different than others.  You where small compare to others, your shape was different but aren’t we all different anyway?  I learned that day that you where over 120 million years old.  That’s what I called an old one!  Once on camp, I could believe the view I had, on one side, I had cascade mountain and on the other side, I had you. Every morning at sunrise, waking up seeing you was enough to make my day.  Days after days, you where there, rain or shine or snow, I even tried to climb you.  While doing it, I lost my...well you know... my watch!  Yea maybe you felt it when I lost it because at the speed it flew from my bag!  After that day, nothing was the same between you and me, I felt that you took something from me. I was pissed yea, but one day, well one night, around 4am.  It was pitch black outside, we had a fire alarm on camp, someone had the brilliant idea of doing laundry and forgot the dryer on and it caught on fire.  I remember, girls where all scared and in front of us we had Cascade mountain, for the first time I couldn’t see the top of the mountain.  I could make the difference between the black sky and the top of the mountain.  I was scared but when I looked around and I saw you there, downtown, rising above the smoke, bright as a light, watching over the Bow Valley, when I saw you, I felt safe because I knew you were there, not like that Cascade Mountain hiding is the darkness..!

But one day came, it was the end of our relationship.  I woke up that morning at 5am, I grabbed my bags and left camp.  Driving back to Calgary for my flight home.  But before we left, I looked at you and say that one day, I would be back and would walk on you.  It’s been close to 17 years since and every time I look up in my memory about that summer, the first picture I have is you, standing there, watching over the highway and the Bow river, watching over the Banff Spring Hotel and the hot springs.

Dear Mt Rundle, one day I’ll be there, one day I’ll be around and take more pictures of you because that’s the only souvenir we can take from you.

 Hope you will still be there when I come around :)