Permission to Grieve When Your Child Goes Away to College
I wrote this blog originally back in 2011 when my oldest was going off to college for the first time. She is now 28 and recently got married. Like when our children go away to college, marriage is another life transition in which parents and siblings (and children) may sometimes experience with mixed emotions. Even the happiest of life transitions may also bring with them feelings associated with the grief of letting go of how things were. Since 2011, I have been fortunate enough to have all four of my children go away to college and yet I have also experienced some levels of grief each time. This blog has been shared annually all around the country via colleges, high school PTA's and it is quite popular on The Patch. I have received hundreds of emails over the past seven years from parents who thanked me for articulating what they felt. I have read long notes from fathers who said they felt better knowing they were not alone as they were the only one who was crying and m