119th Street and Walk Back

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(recreated post on 9/23/05)

That was an expression we used to have when I ran Shawnee Mission South X-Country. We would run out to 119th Street and because it was all farm land out there we could easily get away with walking back part of the way without coach catching us.

I joined cross country because I had a brother and sister who were competitive runners and let's face it, I'm a joiner. I ran for social reasons. I ran because it seemed like fun . . . and there was a boy. There's ALWAYS a boy! He was a year ahead of me, our top runner, and had the most amazing eyes you'd ever see. In two years I don't think I said two words to him. Typical.

It's funny to think of the time when 119th had horses, cows, and buffalo - it's now a divided four lane road with Olive Gardens and Targets. It looks like every other major suburban road in the country. When we moved out to Kansas we were as far south as you could get from the city. Our sub-division was on a cross roads where the other three corners were farm land. Like 119th Street, the area has grown and when we moved away sixteen years later it was also four over-developed lanes.

Shawnee Mission - by the time we got there it was no longer a mission and, to my knowledge, there were no Shawnees. I grew up in a place with few minorities. In fact, you could probably count the number of minorities that went to my high school (a school with over 1800 students) on two hands. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but not by much. In my own circle of high school friends, I consider myself lucky to have befriended one Iranian (escaped the revolution in 1980 with her family) and one first generation Indian.

How far I've traveled from that Red State in the middle of the country - literally, figuratively, and ideologically. I don't get back there much at all now that my family has moved away. In fact, it's been six years since I've been back. There is little besides my friends pulling me to visit. My 20 year reunion is next summer (which makes me want to vomit) and I wonder if I'll go. A few years back I went on a cruise with some of my old high school friends and discovered we had little in common anymore. They are all married with children and frankly, don't know what to make of me. To be fair, I don't know what to make of them. We spoke mostly of the old Shawnee Mission South days . . . and laughed a lot, but never really talked about our current lives - or anything else. I was happy to have a DC friend along.

I suppose long distance applies to more than just running.