DD off to uni tomorrow.

[Crosswithlifeatm]

I gave her a hug goodnight and am now a soggy,weepy mess.
I will no doubt be worse tomorrow if the overloaded car makes it.
AIBU or are other mums like this?
I have brought her up to be a strong, independent young woman so I've only myself to blame but this is it, she's outgrown home.
How long does it take to reinvent a life as a single woman?

Well that's it!
I had a little wobbleasI hugged her goodbye and couldn't speak .I kept it together for the drive home.
I'm now sobbing intoy wine and munching crisps,
She was ok.
She will visit but this little town is not one she'll come back to,certainly not when she gets a job.
TomorowI clean her room(and move her spread of stuff to fill the empty bits) and try to keep the dozens of houseplants she left alive!
The house feels empty.

We dropped dd off for fresher's week last Friday and the house was very very quiet when we got home. But she seems to have a fantastic time, gets on really well with her flatmates and others she met at freshers events. They all celebrated her 18th birthday this week and I'm just so chuffed that after growing up in very rural Scotland, being locked away in her room learning via zoom for almost two years, she is enjoying the start of student life so much and is making friends.

My dd goes next week, I’m a single parent, dd1 is my side kick, someone I laugh and argue with daily, she’s also a carer to her younger sister who is severely autistic (dd1 has ASD herself), dd2 isn’t really verbal so when dd1 goes I won’t have anyone to have a discussion with. It’s going to feel really weird not having her around. I am very proud though, proud at how brave she is being, she’s been bullied all the way through primary and high school and until last year had no confidence at all. She’s super excited about going to uni and I’m trying to hide my anxiety and sadness.

DD has ASD too.Freshers week will be the hardest as she'll have to push herself to make friends and join activities.If she manages that she'll be fine
.She's become more resilient in the last year and knows how to ask for help. She just needs to find her people.

I was a sobbing wreck (3 years ago) I thought I'd never feel better.

But I did and it gets better. More than better. It becomes just fine x

3rd one goes off tomorrow and it's the one that'll hit me the most, even though I should be used to this by now 😥
I have 4 dcs but he's the one I'm closest to.
Need to keep it together when we drop him off - three and a half hours away - as youngest will be in the car.

QueenArnica oh wow, I wonder if their paths will cross? Good luck to her x

Good luck to everyone doing this in the next few days.
I have just tried to keep my brain busy on other things tonight which has helped and tried not to phone or text beyond saying goodnight.

One left last week and one leaves this weekend - so we’ll be a family of 3 for the first time ever 😢
excited for the kids but so strange and surreal for me knowing they’re moving on to the next phase of their lives

Good luck to all of us and our kids!

Son off this morning and I don't think I've slept a wink!!

Son seems chilled, which is great 👍🏻 me less so 😩

He's only an hour and a half away which is a comfort xx

We are driving the eldest up today (wish us luck, it's London, awkward bugger he is!!).

I'm really feeling it (dad), it's all quiet here at the moment, but I've not slept much and now in bed with a coffee, before I get up. It feels really strange.

Eldest seems fine. Me and OH were talking about how we felt the other evening and I came clean and said I'm upset. She is too, but she got me when she said "don't forget, you were the first to hold him when he was born". That really hit me, so I made my excuses and legged it to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. How manly!!!

We both went to Uni and had a great time and I'm hoping he will.

It's going to be a tricky couple of days.

I also have a daughter off to London today, the other goes next weekend then it will really hit me 😢

Both are absolutely ready to go and will have an amazing time, plus the hot water bill should reduce!

I'm off to Leeds with DD this morning. Good luck to anyone else who is going today and hugs to those who have already gone. Sad is an understatement. But also so excited for her it's going to be brilliant

It is a wrench when the last has gone to University - but they do come back!

Christmas, Easter, summer holidays etc. And for us they still said they were coming 'home'. Ours were more mature when they came back, which is lovely. Less like teenagers, more like young adults.

Said goodbye to mine 😞 settled into her room. Sent me a video of her tidy room with cushions and blanket in the bed and everything in place.

plug in air freshener on -she bought one like home.

im ok. Had a little cry when in the car.

I’m home from dropping mine off. Both of us very impressed with the huge en-suite room she was allocated which has gone some way to making me feel better about leaving her there. She was texting me but has gone quiet so I’m praying it’s because she is busy meeting people and making friends. Waking up tomorrow without her here will be very strange.

One piece of advice is show them how the oven works! Dials etc

I didn’t (ours is gas and uni is electric). Did everything else but that. She’s already text to ask how it works.😂😂

I really want to cry my eyes out, but im
trying to reframe it! I’m so excited for her, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime- meeting new people, being carefree and having the most amazing social time- I’m trying to get excited for her and put my tears aside for now so she is not a wreck when I leave her next Sunday. I want her to always look forward and never back…

Well I just went to load the car and found it full of his stuff from Reading festival. So right now...not feeling as sad as I might.

My son isn’t going for another two weeks and I know just how emotional I’m going to be.
Ive got a question for you all though...what are your dc using to pack all of their stuff? I’d assumed he’d use suitcases and boxes but of course there’ll not be room at uni to store the cases. I’d love to know what everyone is doing.

We are now all in a hotel for the night. Been to the halls and got the room pretty much sorted.

The drive across central London I could have done without (thank you sat nav, bastard!!!).

Had a meal, which was a real laugh and both eldest and youngest (15) have their own room for the night.

Tomorrow will be hard, but we've got this far today,

We've used clothes storage bags, or as the boys have called them, body bags. pots, pans and crockery, etc in a big IKEA laundry bag. Eldests endless shoes and boots, thrown in the boot.

@ScarlettDarling we took suitcases, which we brought home; boxes, which we broke down and left in hall bins; Ikea bags, of which we brought two home and left one as DD’s laundry bag. She has a backpack for weekend trips, and at Christmas we’ll take suitcases when we go to pick her up. Next summer we’ll have to collect more cardboard boxes and suck up having to do a lot of packing on moving out day. Or she might manage to source some herself (I’m hoping she’ll be a pretty competent human by then!)

Emotionally … ugh. She’s been gone a week, and it’s such a long term 😭 We’ll go and see her at some point, and she might come home - but I hope she doesn’t want to come home, if you see what I mean? Though if she does come home she’ll need hair and opticians appointments, a tattoo touch-up, and to see the friends who aren’t going this year, I’ll barely see her!

Bin liners for clothes/ bedding/ towels.A suitcase or rucksack so the have something to pack when they come home.
Mine had stuff in IKEA baskets so they were taken off the shelves and will fit under her desk.
We had to buy new pillows when moved in as they would have obliterated any rear window view.
Big plastic box(brought home for kitchen stuff.)
It's not so much what you put ,more how much is your suspension compromised!
I left home with 2 suitcases.
By July they will have accumulated more and that is a worry for the future!
My crying is under control as long as no one àsks if I am ok.
Good luck to everyone.My limited communication today is that she has gone out exploring food shopping with some flat mates,they must(as our mothers didn't) let the know we are gibbering wrecks at home!

Having a big cry here after leaving DC2 today. I thought I wouldn't be so bad this time round but it hasn't got any easier! I know he's doing what he wants to do and I'm really excited for him but my goodness I'll miss him.
He's rung to say he's been chatting to a few people in the flat, and they seem nice but he seems to be the only one so far who doesn't know anyone else there.

We used suitcases, a hold-all, ikea bags and bags for life to transport everything.
We've bought the cases and some of the bags, left the hold-all a couple of bags for life and an ikea bag.
My legs are aching from walking up and down the many flights of stairs, with all the bags!