<p>My two Ds chose schools over 700 miles away, and it’s been hard… for me (they’ve adjusted well). In January they pulled out of the driveway in D1’s car to return to school (they’re less than three hours from each other, so D2 hitched a ride with D1 for winter break) together, I about lost it. I stood at the window, holding our miniature schnauzer in one arm, and using my other hand to wave the dog’s paw good-bye to them (yea, I know… very sappy). </p>
<p>This, I guess will have been the hardest year with them both being gone. D1 graduates in May and will be living at home at least for a bit until she finds a job and saves enough money to move out on her own. D2 just found out last week that she was cast in one of her school’s summer musicals (a paying gig, no less!), so she will only be home for a week or so before rehearsals begin. It will be soooo weird to have D1 home for the summer (or at least part of it) and have D2 not home (she’s trying to line up a couple of other things so she can stay on campus after her show’s three-week run ends). D1 has already publicly announced she plans to take over D2’s room to use as her closet. D2 also wants her car at school with her during the summer (but not during the school year), so there will be some enormous amounts of driving in May as we pick up D2 to attend D1’s graduation, drive them both back home with all of D1’s stuff, then less than a week later, drive with D2 back out to school and move her into her summer dorm residence (then at some point, we will need to fly back out to retrieve her car before school starts in August). I guess I can just be thankful we won’t have winter weather to worry about during all this traveling.</p>
<p>As so many other posters have stated, although it tugs at my heart when they’re not home (I loved having them both home for the long Easter weekend), I find such joy in knowing how happy they are at their respective schools. I’d rather they be 1000+ miles away and happy, than 100 miles away and unhappy. The second scenario would bring me much more grief, even though I might see them more frequently.</p>
<p>OP- I found myself very teary the last term of my Ds senior year, esp when certain songs came on the radio, just knowing I would not be sharing all these times with her after the fall. In reality, I did not cry much after dropping her off, it felt right and I needed to be strong.</p>
<p>D had a rough freshman year with roommate issues and a long distance relationship, I stayed strong to support her as she learned and grew- still with the BF and all roomies since the first year have been great and D will be a senior this fall</p>
<p>When they are far away, they have to become self-reliant pretty quickly. When my daughter first went away, she would call with a problem, for instance, should she drop a class and take another. Well, being 10 hours away, there would be nothing I could do for her. Initially, I would suggest she call the appropriate person to guide her. Now, she is in London and had a scheduling snafu for next fall and she just handled it from across the pond! She didn’t think twice about it! I was very proud of her(and told her so, too!). She has really grown personally!</p>
<p>Although as the thread “Tales from School Party Eleventy-Zillion” reported, a lot of kids use cell phones to call home about EVERYTHING, regardless of how near or far they are. The thread contains stories of kids calling from an airport 1000 miles away to ask, “Which line should I be in?” Or calling from NYC to ask dad to get on Mapquest and tell the kid how to find the nearest subway station. Or the kid who called 5 times in 20 minutes trying to figure out what to wear to his frat event… with today’s technology, kids are only a phone call or IM away!</p>
<p>It is amazing- the change that you will see in your college freshman. The confidence that S now has from being on is own is very gratifying to see. I suspect that if we were living close to his school, he would have been coming home for many weekends, and may not have developed that confidence so quickly.</p>
<p>OP here. All of you were so great in helping me accept my d going far away for school. Any interested in this new dilemma. She just got accepted to Carnegie Mellon for design. A reach school for her that she just put out of her head because she never thought she would get in. They do not have dance, a passion of hers that SMU does have, but Pittsburgh Ballet is right down the road where she can take classes. CMU design is one of the best in the nation. She doesn’t think she wants to dance professionally (fear again, maybe) but who knows. She definitely wants design as a profession. How do we guide her in this choice?</p>