I know exactly how you feel, and I was and I'm still not a smother mother either. We have two grown children. When our daughter went off to college on '91, only 100 miles away, I cried, even though she would be liveing in a trailer in my MIL's yard. Still didn't make it any easier. When we took our son to college in '95, 500 miles away, I cried, and was more afraid for him, than our daughter, He knew absolutely NO ONE there, At least our daughter had several students that she grew up with and graduated from HS with going to the same college. It does get easier, as time goes by. I knew when I talked to him on the phone that he was really homesick. However the first time our son came home, I could hardly stand to watch him leave to go back to school. I didn't find out for several years later that our daughter was really homesick too. She was always the most independant, and I never thought she would be home sick. Both have stayed in the town where they attended college, and we get to see our daughter more often. We only get to see our son twice a year. Even now it is hard for me to watch either of them drive off and go back to their homes. I guess it is just a mother's natural feelings to want them "to spread their wings and fly, but not really leave the nest." Just hang in there you will get through it all. I would suggest lots of notes, care packages, letters and cards, more so than phone calls. All are necessary, but at least they ge mail from home. I would like to add a line that I read before our daughter went off to school. What ever you do, do not clean out his rrom and start using it for something else. Because when he comes home he will expect to go to his own room and see it just as he left it, and not feel like he no longer has a home or is a visitor in the house. Our daughter has moved most of our stuff out but still has her own room. Our son still has his room just as he left it the first time. Let him decide when you can and should use his room for something else. Just about three years ago our daughter said mom, take my room for sewing because of the size and light. I'll use your sewing room, since I'm only home for a night or two at the most. I was totally shocked, but she helped me change the rooms.