Separation Anxiety or Inklings of Empty Nest Syndrome?

Beginning in middle school (5th grade) at daughter's school, the classes have a start-of-year field trip. Each year, they go a little further away from home than the year before. This year, seventh grade is in AL for space camp. The school says that the purpose of the trips is for team building and bonding of the students in the class. Personally, I think they are trying to show us parents that quicker than we think, our babies are going to be leaving the nest and heading out into the world on their own.

As I watch the young woman-child who only yesterday was the baby we brought home from the hospital, my feelings are bittersweet. She's growing up so quickly and is so eager to take those independent steps into the world. This child of mine is the center of my universe and without a doubt my reason for living. That's as it should be, I think. Why else would we have children? It is hard to believe that around this time of year 2011, I'll be sending my baby off to college and this house will seem far too big, too empty, and too lonely without her in it. That 6 years will pass in the blink of an eye, just as her first 12 1/2 years on this earth have passed. So you see, by taking our kids further and further away for this team building, the school is trying to make us parents realize that soon our nests will be empty and our babies will be grown. Regardless, she'll always be my little girl.