On our daughter at college

"Last week we took our daughter and a lot of her possessions to college to move her in. This will be a good thing I said to her, and it is a big step for her, and a big change for the family. We spent the day having lunch in the dining hall, unpacking her belongings, and then it was time. Time for saying goodbye. She released she would not be coming back with us. There were some tears, of course, bittersweet moments.
  She chose to go to my alma mater, and I left the decision totally up to her, I promise. Her apartment is about a half a mile away from campus and she just sent a picture to us 4 days later, and I hardly recognized her. Her face and arms had tanned, and she had grown from a little girl into a young lady in less than a week. She has called and told us of new friends and a few surprises along the way. I am happy and sad at the same time. Happy to see her come into her own and flourish, and sad to see her leave. But, having raised her to make good decisions and be responsible, I have every reason to believe that she will continue to do the same, while she is on campus.
I told her she will meet friends that she will stay in touch with 30 years later, and others she will know only while there. Everyone I knew when I was there, is gone, except for a friend that's an engineering professor. I know the names of the buildings and classes, but everything else has changed.
And that's OK, because this is HER time.
This is her time to figure out life on her own.
to make some mistakes, to learn and to grow. I don't want to stand in the way.
I realized my role was changing when she asked me about something going on in her life, and I didn't tell her what to do, but simply gave advice, and left the decision up to her. My job as a parent is to raise responsible adults, and step out of the way. And this is one positive step in that direction. ".             -  T. Meiers