I found myself carefully scrubbing a small, grubby McDonald's toy today. VERY carefully because this particular toy is obviously precious to the latest child from my brood to be flying the nest, off to university.
I've actually got two leaving this weekend (terrible timing) but the other one is going into his second year and is very relaxed about the whole thing. As long as he has his office chair and PC he will be happy.
Meanwhile the other one is carefully curating her lifetime collection because she wants her room at uni to be homely, somewhere she wants to come back to not just somewhere to exist.
And how am I feeling? Slightly anxious, slightly sad, slightly glad to have fewer mouths to feed, a shorter queue for the shower and far fewer mum's taxi trips.
Obviously this is not my first rodeo - several of my older children have flown and feathered their own nests now. The first one leaving was the worst but different children cause different worries and it will still be hard to drive away after unloading mice and more.
My tip to make that parting slightly easier - plan an actual date to see them so you can both look forward to it. My local coach company has organised a trip to a Christmas market in the city my child will be studying at so I've booked a seat with them and will meet her there at the end of November. I may well go up before that but at least we both know that's in the diary.
If you've just dropped off, or are about to, good luck! As one who has survived a few children leaving I can assure you it will be OK!