Carmen Harper moved to the island with her partner Scott Hamilton
Dear Squamish,
It’s not you, it’s me. Who am I kidding? It was a bit of you too! After a 21-year relationship, I came to the conclusion last year that it was time for us both to move on, in our own ways. I loved you, and still do. But, it is time to recognize that we have grown apart and that it is time for me to leave you.
I still love your mountains and lakes. I love the small community of great friends I have cultivated over the years. I love how close you are to the bright Vancouver city lights and activities. I just need more space of my own but your tastes have become too expensive for me to find that within your borders. I know it’s not your fault but, because you are so beautiful and full of fresh clean air, you have many people wanting to not only visit your lakes and mountain trails that I love, but move to enjoy it every day.
And the visitors, it’s not just sometimes anymore, but every weekend that city dwellers (from a place I also love and miss) that make going out to my favourite old haunts nearly unbearable — the breweries, restaurants, the Chief Backside trail, Brohm Lake, Alice Lake walks and swims straight from my house with a backpack picnic. Murrin Lake hikes up to one of the most stunning viewpoints around often ending with a quick dip and BBQ afterwards had become nearly impossible to get back onto the highway home.
I love that you are finally re-invigorating yourself after the slowdown from the pulp mill closing and people relocating. Then again before the 2010 Olympics when people fled thinking there would be an unmanageable circus that came with the Games. New restaurant and craft beverage scene emerging from the foundations of long overgrown lots and closed storefronts. The strong healing community that lives in your boundaries — yogis, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and all the other healers who thrive on your energies. I love the hot summer days and cool nights. Your beautiful views from steep mountain hikes, fresh mountain air and freezing cold alpine lakes.
What I fell out of love with was the number of people that had started travelling to you on the weekends, year round. That every weekend I had to either leave town or stay home due to traffic on the highway. I no longer recognize you for the reasons I fell in love in the first place. I loved the small mountain town you were, the place people didn’t recognize the name of, even though you have such a cool name! I also fell out of love with how expensive your tastes have become.
As I’ve aged, I no longer needed the adrenaline adventures that drew me to you in the first place, I didn’t need you to keep me around for the rock faces, boulder problems, skiing, or the ever-growing number of mountain biking trails. I needed different things from you that you just didn’t give me. A greater sense of arts, crafts and culture, small business entrepreneurial spirit, a bigger yard to enjoy, and just a slower pace of life… I craved what I had when I first moved and you were still just a small town. Yes, yes, I know, find it elsewhere, I have on the Island.
I need to grow a garden, change careers and mellow into a new age of life, and just didn’t feel that I could do that with you. I hope we can remain friends and I look forward to regular visits and will keep in touch for sure! Squamish, you helped me in so many ways throughout the years I will always be grateful and will always be proud to have called you home.
Carmen Harper lived in Squamish for 21 years and recently moved to the Vancouver Island.
Rick King says
Well said. After being here for 40 plus years, I fell the same. Squamish gave me everything I needed. A family, 3 beautiful children, many very close friends, too many great memories to remember but it has changed in many more ways that you have mentioned. I moved to Squamish as a young lad to fulfill my dreams but it seems to have ended in a kind of nightmare. I too still love the Squamish valley but….well you said it. Maybe it’s just me getting older. Enjoy your new adventure.
Derek Mcmanus says
Carmen, you did the right thing moving away. Squamish was a nice place to call home, was an affordable place and used to be a quiet town, all past tense. Once it was discovered by city folk and people who wanna make boatloads of money, specifically half the people working at DOS and council members, it became a nightmare and some of the people are realizing that, for example the folks close to the Brackendale post office where an ugly building will be erected soon. Also the monstrosity of a building on Cleveland and Buckley, the list goes on. I have no problem calling out the very people who give big property developers free reign on design and taking up so much room, blocking views and limiting parking for the rest, but give small scale contractors so many hurdles and limits that one wonders if it is not personal. It is a shame and sad what Squamish has become, and although I have moved away to a better place, it hurts me to see the town I called home for many years in this current state. Newcomers will not understand this, only the ones that knew Squamish before the ‘boom’. I commend the residents of Brackendale who have spoken up about the development in their neighborhood and I would ask the rest to speak up on other parts of town when they see something that has no place in Squamish, make your elected council members accountable.
Riun Blackwell says
Well how big a surprise is it that we have become part of Mega City Vancouver? People and circumstances change. Sure it’s great to have history in a location and appreciate past beauty and relative isolation however here we are and the current situation will in time be someone else’s sentimental past. Looking ahead to the Squamish of 2030 and beyond might be more helpful for the kids who are growing up in their hometown of Squamish today. There are people arriving in this town today who think it is miraculous. Lets appreciate the Mayor Council we elected and pursue a vision of the place we aspire to live in.