Quick reflections about dropping my daughter off to college for the first time.

[SheilaT]

13. I guess I'm not like other parents.

Our oldest went off to school over a thousand miles from us (he went to Reed College in Portland, we lived in the Kansas City area) and it was much more exciting than sad.

Younger son only went a couple of hundred miles away, to the University of Tulsa.

Maybe the biggest difference (aside from being sons, not daughters, which does matter) is that they'd been away from home any number of times before, mostly off to various camps, for as long as three weeks at a time. I've noticed over the years that the kids who often have the very hardest time adjusting to being away at school are the ones who have never spent any time away from home before.

It's also my personal opinion that they should be more than a couple hours drive away so that they aren't tempted to spend every weekend at home. Or worse yet, parents don't think they should be spending every weekend home. College is the time to sprout wings, as you said, and its A Good Thing.