MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/2C82A669/FRIENDS_drastically_revised(2).htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" FRIENDS (AS IN BEST)

“Keeping In Touch”            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;            =             J= anuary, 2010

FRIENDS

 

Can a building be a friend?  Do the brick exterior, long hallwa= ys, the auditorium, and a periodic rotten egg smell foster such an alignment?   

 

www.visual= thesaurus.com uses words like:  ally, acquaintance, champion-protagonist-admirer as synonyms for friend.  Merriam-Webster speaks of f= riends as having a respectful attachment to each other. 

 

Shaw= nee Mission High School was that kind of attachment for many of us.  Early neighborhood ties h= ad us attending the same junior high schools.&nb= sp; These environments spearheaded a friendship focus.  Our high school continued this cen= tral base.   

 

By today’s standards, Shawnee Mission was a safe= haven.  The daylight hours kept every= one occupied within its walls or on adjacent fields and tennis courts.  Extra curricular choices, evening = events and sports happenings gave us expanded arenas to play.  The building showcased possibiliti= es, housed dreams and ideas.  Many of us = chose to attend and some did not.  <= /p>

 

When the school district split the student population,= the outside world entered this treasured environment severing numerous day-to-d= ay encounters.  The split was not= a surprise, yet it caught us then taught us that a larger wo= rld with its own rules and own guidelines awaited.    

 

Shawnee Mission became Shawnee Mission North.  Yet dozens of friendships stayed strong.  Many continue to this day.  The camaraderie, desires= for our comfort and just plain good times are preserved within them. 

 

The building endured as have we.  It provided us then with something= we knew and regarded with trust.  The staff and faculty provided cooperation and assistance.  While some of us walked away from = the school and its environment, hundreds stayed and formed kinships that lasts into today.&nbs= p;

 

In answer to the original question:  Can a building be a friend?  I vote yes.  It gave us a community with walls = which remains via a community without walls, at www= .SMNorth60.com . 

 

We were, are, and will stay on as Shawnee Mission Nort= h friends.

 

 

Thanks to Linda Sell McConwell, our Cheerleader Emerit= us (Forgive the pun but it’s extremely appropriate), Larry Newlon, our forever vo= lunteer (Bless him) and talented Web Master, whose knowledge and persistence keeps = the site working, Lois, Dave, and Don Davis for their work presented this issue.    

 

Any beginning is thought of as auspicious by its devel= opers and authors.  This page is no exception.  We sincerely hope = you agree. 

 

Barbara (Malco= lm) McAllister, editor of the “Keeping In Touch” page welcomes comments, questions, and critiques.  Email:  thatswhat1@yahoo.com  Now an experienced wordsmith for professional and individual projects, she solves written challenges for her= clients’ satisfaction and gain.