<p>Our second Harvard D leaves for her senior year tomorrow. It’ll be the last of six straight years for us. We’ve made it through the separation anxiety, but then we’ve still got one more kid at home. This time next year, it’ll be a fully empty nest.</p>
<p>Here’s what’s worked for us:</p>
<p>Skype - It’s wonderful at first, then as things become more routine, coordinating the meeting time becomes more of a burden.</p>
<p>Unlimited calling plans - The map of the Harvard campus looks like the spots on the side of a giraffe. There are a lot of walks from one class or activity to another - they’re great opportunities for spontaneous calls.</p>
<p>Reading The Crimson online - It’s an excellent way to be up to date on current campus issues and to bug your student about attending a really cool event if they’re wavering.</p>
<p>Splurging - Frequent flights up for their activities, taking their friends out to eat, paying > $250 a night for hotels, etc. Boston is one heck of an expensive place, but these are just four years, it’s your kid at the most famous university in the world - if this isn’t what we were saving for through all those years of self-denial, then what is?</p>
<p>Come up with plans for hosting your student and friends over Spring Break that are too good to turn down - We’ve managed to lure both daughters and their friends to Georgia over the break, with another group set for a return visit next March. It’s an extension of wanting to be the house where all the kids on the block came to play.</p>
<p>A dog - We already have a Labrador Retriever in place to deal with the impending empty nest.</p>
<p>And support from your CC friends - Hey, summer came, the lake warmed up, and the retriever turned out to be afraid of the water - gimme a break! Luckily, the other parents on the Parent Cafe told me how to teach a water dog to swim and over the last month of the summer, we’ve all been one wet, happy family. :)</p>