She's jetting off to the Netherlands- I feel so lonely!

[madbadanddangerous]

My daughter's going to Maastricht University in Holland, the Netherlands. I have my 13yr old and 11yr old- but I still feel so lonely. She's applied for an exchange program for next autumn, for a term in Meji Gavkin, Japan, doing an Intensive Japanese Course as well as Cultural and Social Studies there, and this summer will be doing an exchange to Finmark, doing Outdoor Activities, a Cultural Course (studying Sami/Laplander traditions) and learning Finnish. She's doing everything! I just feel really lonely without her...

I think there is an empty nest support thread somewhere.
I klnow you are not strictly empty nest,but I should hope they would still welcome you.

Depending on where you live, Mad, it's not that far you know! Comfort yourself with the thought that it's quicker to get there than for parents in Surrey to get to than, say Edinburgh

We've just dropped off our DD for her second year in the north, somewhere - 5 hours from here. But we've already put in her diary the date we're going up for a weekend and the date she's coming back here. We find this helps - this time last year it just felt so open ended not knowing when we'd see her. So this helps us, at least.

I understand how you feel about the Japan trip tho- my DS is about to head off to north America for 6 months, and I'm not sure how I'll cope with that! ( he's 21 and I'm a bit more used to it, but it's a long time with no trips here or there). I just keep telling myself what a great opportunity it is.