<p>This thread has helped me as well. I was completely surprised at how this year (second year) has been much harder than last year. I am glad to know I am in good company!</p>
<p>I cannot take credit for this thought since I read it elsewhere, but it pretty much sums up my feelings even though this is our D’s third year away.</p>
<p>“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh</p>
<p>:) Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Great thread. </p>
<p>We recently dropped off our youngest, and my heart sank surprisingly low. Thing is, she’s not a freshman, but a senior. Like her older siblings she’s had an amazing time, and as it was for them the experience has been even better than we hoped. And like them, the time has flown by in the blink and twinkling of an eye. </p>
<p>The sad part? Well, you’d think after doing it 12 times now with thousands of miles under our belt, it would be routine. And in a way it has become routine. Thus, the realization that this was the last time ever… just crazy to think about. And in 9 short months there won’t even be school breaks. So, in a lot of ways, this time was harder than the first time. Nonetheless, we are as proud as we could possibly be, and that helps a lot.</p>
<p>I know UA is supposedly a great place to be … and my son is very interested (a lot of that has to do with the great scholarship being offered) … but I think it’s TOO FAR from home. 9 hours…!!</p>
<p>That’s close. We have a 15 hr drive. :)</p>
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<p>I hadn’t thought about it that way. I imagine that will be tough. Our last graduates from high school this year. I know that will be a tough night too.</p>
<p>but I think it’s TOO FAR from home. 9 hours…!!</p>
<p>All the California parents are very envious!</p>
<p>9 hrs is just a solid days drive 
</p>
<p>Just made it a couple of weeks ago from DFW.</p>
<p>We’re from California and a number of our instate colleges would be more than a 9 hour drive from where we live. I’m of the opinion that you need to take a deep breath and just let go. Once kids start college they are going to be drawn into an independent life and won’t want to feel obliged to visit home at weekends or have parents visit too often.</p>
<p>kids in my state can drive 9 hours and still be at an in-state school, so sending her away (a 10 hour drive) was not too much worse that the distance for a lot of kids going to the instate school.</p>
<p>it is actually good for the kids to go away and not be too close to home. hard on mom, maybe, but great for the students. at least in my case it has been.</p>
<p>ditto what the poster above me said.</p>
<p>It is a 20 hour drive from here, but depending on the traffic/weather it could be much longer. However, it is never too far when you realize how happy and successful your student is. :)</p>
<p>10.5 hour drive for us…you are not going to see them anyway…they may want to spend summers at Tuscaloosa…ROLL TIDE</p>
<p>10 hours from here…D told us last year, before Christmas that she would not be moving back North after graduation. She loves the South and plans to stay there. We dropped her off this year knowing that she will be home for Christmas, but not much else. Summer she will be in Spain.</p>
<p>It gets harder and harder as you realize that your time with them is getting shorter and shorter. It’s tough…</p>
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<p>London, England is closer to UA than our home. Why, you’re practically in the neighborhood. ;)</p>
<p>Roll Tide!</p>
<p>^ haha :)</p>
<p>^^^^^malanai, that is so true…lol…17hrs or so to drive for us. I’ll never really know because I never ever plan on doing it short of an absolute immediate emergency. Not when the flight is just 2 hrs to Bham and the return just 1:45hrs back to NY. It cost me less than $250 to ship all he needed to bring with him and it shipped right to campus. I think in the long haul between gas, tolls, food, the additional days/time, hotel, etc to get there that it was worth the extra expense to fly. Just our opinion.</p>
<p>We are one of those with instate options 9-10 hours away! In fact, DD’s best friends chose those options! Bama is 14 hours for us!</p>
<p>There is something to having the campus close by in case of an emergency. When S1 was admitted to the emergency room at 10:00 p.m. one night at another campus 6-7 hours away, my husband didn’t have to do anything BUT jump in the car and go. However, having S2 12 hours away hasn’t been too difficult as we do drive him at the beginning and the end of the year, but otherwise he flies home and is home within 2 hours (4 or so if you add his ride from Tuscaloosa to the airport). My opinion is once they are over 4 hours driving distance away, it really doesn’t make too much difference if they are 4 or 18 hours away in distance.</p>
<p>^^^agreed about distance, after a certain distance it doesnt’t matter. Far is far. Just a reminder to have a health care proxy and to have your student put your contact number’s in their cell phones under ICE ( In Case of Emergency).</p>
<p>Every time I miss my son and think, “Darn, I wish he were closer,” I remind myself that he couldn’t be having a better college and life experience than the one he’s having at Alabama. Then I remind myself that he’s getting nearly all of this for free by virtue of UA’s amazing NMF scholarship. Then I remind myself that the seemingly astronomical cost of flying to Alabama from Hawaii is a teensy fraction of the money we’re saving by virtue of his attendance there. Suddenly all is right.</p>
<p>Living in Hawaii forces you to modify your perception of distance. I don’t think of it in terms of miles or hours. I think of it like this: Get on a flight early in the evening. Go to sleep. Wake up in Houston. Have a light breakfast. Catch a 90 minute puddle jumper and alight in Birmingham before noon. Easy-peasy, as the Brits say, a magic carpet ride. </p>
<p>Add in all the instantaneous communication at our fingertips (phone, Skype, texting, Instagram, Facebook) and there’s only one thing to say: Roll Tide! :)</p>