Transitions
Posted on Aug 05, 2025 by Shari Van Baale
I am not looking forward to what will happen in a couple of weeks. It is not just the long drive, though I am dreading that. It is what happens at the end of our journey. My family of four will be driving two cars across the state of Kansas and some of Colorado. When it is over, only one car and three of us will return to Olathe.
If you haven’t guessed it, we are taking my daughter to college. I don’t remember much about when my parents took me to school my freshman year, but I do remember things were never the same.
I went to a school about 3 ½ hours from home, and though I didn’t have a car my first year I had some friends who I could ride with when I wanted to visit. I was home between the summer of my freshman and sophomore years, but after that I stayed at school every summer, eventually meeting my husband the summer after my sophomore year, graduating, and staying there for several years before moving to the Iowa-Illinois border.
The past few months have been filled with a lot of lasts — last time driving to school, last lunch at school, last day of school, last time walking the halls of the school, last dance recital … the list goes on and on. A few more lasts will happen in a couple of weeks — last night at home, last hug, last time we see her until Thanksgiving … this list also goes on and on.
I am trying not to be sad and I know I will miss her. Life will be different for us, but it is time to move on.
I’ll probably write about our adventure to Colorado and back in my next Staff Trax. In the meantime, pray for me, our family, and the transitions that are happening.
Shari Van Baale
Salem Communications Coordinator