I Will Remember You

            I just got back from having lunch at the EDR with Nate and Alyson, who works at the activities desk. They’re both working this morning, and said that it’s been pretty slow so far in the lobby. It will probably be an easy shift later on as well. As I said yesterday, we have 190 check-ins scheduled, but as long as housekeeping has the rooms ready in time, we should be fine. The earlier shift should actually be able to take care of some of those check-ins before I even get there. Nate also mentioned that we have a Backroads group coming in today, and maybe a few other tours as well. I think our time of really busy, hard shifts at the desk is over.

            Today Rob’s making the schedule for next week. When I go in at three I’ll have to make sure that I get the morning shift on the seventh, which is my last day at work. I’ll miss having Rob as a boss; he’s pretty fun to work with. Pretty much everyone here is nice to work and hang out with. I definitely miss my friends at the zoo, though, and can’t wait to be with them again.

            There are a lot of great memories that I’ve made here in this park over the summer. Kayaking on Jackson Lake, cliff jumping into the Gros Ventre River, and camping out the night before the fourth of July are just of the experiences that I’ll never forget and will be very special to me. More than anything, though, I’ll take the friendships that I’ve made this summer with me wherever I go. I hope that, when I say goodbye to these people in eight days, that it’ll be only a temporary goodbye and that, in whatever circumstance, I’ll see them again sometime. Whether that be back here in a future season, or somewhere else in the world, I’d really like to see my friends here again sometime, especially Cristina, Jesse, Tanner, and Nate. They’ve come to feel like family in the few short months since we met. We all come from different areas: Cristina from Florida, Nate from Arizona, Jesse from Michigan, Tanner from Virginia, and me from Texas. Different ages, different families, different backgrounds, yet we’ve become so close to each other since we moved into this spectacular place in May. And even if next week’s goodbye is a permanent one, and I won’t get to see them again, those four people especially helped to make these last few months the best summer of my life.