I’ll be brutally honest. There are days I look back at the audition process as the good old days. The reality of freshman year, especially if your child is going far away like mine is a whole other hurdle. First there is the crazy prep, dorm planning and furnishing and the continued output of money which does not end when auditions are over! Then there is that inevitable day when you kiss them goodbye and drive or in my case fly away. Nothing in my whole life prepared me for the feeling that my heart was being ripped out of my chest. But I did it, you will do it - it’s what parents do when we have to let go. But it was the hardest thing I ever have had to do. Freshman year is a big transition. There will definitely be highs and lows - these programs are hard, hard work - demanding and exhausting at times. It’s not always sunshine and roses and as parents you will come to find out you can’t fix things anymore. Sometimes all you can do is support and love them and send them strength from afar. You will sometimes feel very helpless. But as we are coming to the end of this year I can confidently say that I left a young girl at the beginning of the year and I’m picking up a resilient young woman in two weeks. She has fought through every challenge and I couldn’t be more proud. But I am oh so glad to be getting her home for awhile!