Missing My College Daughter: The Insight That Finally Helped

Two weeks ago my daughter, my firstborn, my only girl, left for college. She started school 400 miles from home at the small Catholic liberal arts college of her dreams. I held it together on the long drive home for the sake of my 8th grade son who had come along to help with move in, but once home I felt physically weak in the knees and shaky.

All day there was a heavy boot pressing into the center of my chest. I cried every single time I was alone, and often when I wasn’t. For the first fe...