Taking your kid to school

I remember the first day of Kindergarten like it was yesterday. We dropped her off and were scared to death the whole day. She never behaved quite "normal", whatever the hell that means. We knew that there was a very good likelihood that things would not go well that day at South Meadows Elementary. When we went to retrieve her, the student teacher or teacher helper simply said "oh, she really struggled" or something to that effect. She was her usual self of not being happy until she was alone at home.

That was 1997.

On February 22, 2011, we took her to school again. This time to college and it was much, much harder. I have been in agony and have been scared even more than I was 14 years ago. She is not just in school around the corner for the first time, she is at a college 100 miles away and on her own for the first time. She is responsible for getting up on time, for taking care of herself, for brushing her teeth and doing homework and eating and everything else that we take for granted. I can envision her laying on her bed crying because she is hungry and missed dinner or didn't like what they had or didn't know what to do or just needed help. She has always had help and now she doesn't. Cold turkey. Will she grow up and do well or will she crumble under the pressure of learning to take care of herself? I am hoping and praying for the former. I know she is smart enough, but worry about her naivety and her innocence.

I wish she would call me like we told her to do. I wish I could just get a simple report of "I'm OK. I ate dinner. I made it to class on time. The alarm clock worked. I know what time class is tomorrow." Thats all I want. Is that too much?