<p>Said it before and will say it again, here: when we do our jobs right, we lose. </p>
<p>We help these creatures to become loving, interesting, humorous, complicated beings, and then they leave. </p>
<p>It is easy to forget that this was the plan all along.</p>
<p>Really, it does get better. But it is really hard at first.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to be glad… son gets an apt and won’t have to come home next summer…</p>
<p>Couldn’t resist, sorry- it’s being another long summer.</p>
<p>Oh, I love your version of this great Beatles song! My son (only child) leaves for college in late August. The Long and winding road leads him to Bloomington. Fortunately it is only 2 hours away from home, so hopefully he will make a few visits home. He is very excited, and I totally understand, but I am gonna miss him terribly. It has been me and him since I was divorced when he was 1. I just keep reminding myself that (like another poster said) this is what I’ve wanted for him since he was born!</p>
<p>Will do it for the second time this fall–both of them half-way across country. The silent place they leave makes me melancholy, but I feel better when I remember that look in their eyes saying, “Old man look at my life: I’m a lot like you were.”</p>
<p>A mere 48 hours away from giving my son wings. I knew this is what he was meant to have and I remember what it’s like - it’s AWESOME. </p>
<p>BUT, at the same time, this is the best job I ever had. I feel like I’m being outsourced and there is no other job that I can get that willl ever be as great as the one I had being a Mom.</p>
<p>A kiss goodbye in the morning - keys on the table very late at night - underwear on the floor… I will miss every piece of it.</p>
<p>No one can tell me not to cry - I’m entitled. </p>
<p>I will so miss my kid.</p>
<p>Well said jmlct (as the tears roll down from reading all these posts and missing my kid.)</p>
<p>Second and last daughter left last week amd when the tears come I try to remind myself that I would be crying bigger tears if they had not succeeded in school and not been accepted to many fine institutions. They turned out well and exceeded my expectations.</p>
<p>What I did not bargain for was for my husband of 25 years to fly from the nest as well.</p>
<p>My only child (son) has been gone a week and I am up and down. He is only an hour away but it seems like 1000. I will not run over there --yet–and he certainly is not wasting gas coming here.
We communicate by IM–lovely. He did call yesterday because he needed money for books. It was nice to hear his voice but it just is not the same as sitting at the dinner table with him.<br>
The first few days were horrible but I thought I had gotten better, even pep talking some neighbor moms who were sending their kids after mine was already gone. But then today after work I walked though the living room and saw his senior picture on the wall and another picture of him running a race and I broke down again.
It is just so hard–but I know he is having a great time on campus, in the dorm, meeting new friends, finding his way in new classes. And so I talk myself up and come on here to feel better.
It really does help to know I am not alone and that my feeling are normal.
Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Just tell you’re child Jai guru dev om. (Give thanks to the teacher) Nothing’s gonna change their world.</p>
<p>I’m just back from leaving my son at college for his freshman year. 3000 miles away. It wasn’t so sad at the time, when I left him, because I was just in denial, I think. Now, back home, it’s weird. Just me, my husband, and my daughter (who will leave home next year). The family just feels too small. It’s sad. I miss him very much. We were super close and spent a ton of time together. I am also thrilled for him because he’s having a great, great time… but it’s very empty here without him. I guess we’ll get used to it… hard to imagine.</p>
<p>But the real crushing experience will be next year when the second (and last) child leaves. Oh dear. :(</p>
<p>
I’m sorry! :(</p>
<p>Applicantmum,</p>
<p>Oh my. How sad. I am sorry, too.</p>
<p>A different experience… as a single dad raising S on my own since he was three, only working when he was in school, he was always at my side. I chose to stay at home with him until kindergarten started. Walked him to and from school everyday thru grammar school, drove him each way to middle school, did my third of carpool for high school, attended every school performance and function and I always, always was here at home to greet him on his return when he was out with someone else. We were so close that it wasn’t until this past summer that I first went to the local grocery store without him. I confess to being a worst case overprotective hovering parent. Talking with other parents and reading this forum this last year lead to a summer of dreading the expected sadness, emptyness and fear I’d have once he boarded the plane. There were moments over the last few months that hit me hard, like so many here have written of. I think mostly nostalgia moments mixed with a touch of my “did I do it right” fears. </p>
<p>It was a redeye flight he boarded last night. The call came at 4:10am my time; “I’m here, in Boston, on campus in line to get my ID and room key.” Laughter and giggling of kids in the background followed by; “Gotta go Dad, I love you.”… </p>
<p>What hit me wasn’t so much the words he spoke, it was something in his voice, a mix of excitement and happiness wrapped in a sense of achievement surrounding my mental picture of his face, there 3000 mile away, exactly where he has been headed towards these past 17 years. It left me with a feeling of contentment and peace I’ve never experienced before. I bet if I looked in a mirror I would actually be glowing. No sadness here, no sadness at all. And then to top it all off, just a few minutes ago a single text word sent to me,… “Goodnight”. What a wonderful word. What a wonderful feeling. Dreams do come true.</p>
<p>awwwww, 4trees, that is wonderful. Good for you and good for him!</p>
<p>More song lyrics:</p>
<p>I know you can’t stay
But part of you will never ever go away
Your heart will stay.</p>
<p>I’ll make a wish for you
And hope it will come true
That life will just be kind
To such a gentle mind
And if you lose your way
Think back on yesterday
Remember me this way
Remember me this way.</p>