Faith,

It truly does sound as if your daughter's a normal child going through the distancing that goes with growing older and getting ready to be an adult.

I feel for you, however. It's not easy having that happen when you want to maintain a close relationship with your child.

Perhaps one thing that you can do to help her feel supported and know she's loved would be to support her in HER endeavor. You don't want her to leave with hard feelings, but you may not be able to prevent that. Unless your relationship is truly terrible, I doubt that she's going to cut you off. So be as supportive as you can of her going to do what it is that she's choosing to do.

See if she needs anything for the time.
Help her research what she will need or is likely to need.
Don't be negative about it--be positive. Try to work up some genuine enthusiasm.
Help her pack to go and slip some personal notes in with her things.

By supporting her endeavor you are telling her that you believe in her and her choices. What a way to tell her you love her without words. Of course, you can say the words and do other little things while you're waiting.

Hang in there. Sounds like you have a good kid on your hands. Give her time to realize that you are a human with feelings too. If she doesn't realize it now, she probably will by the time she's in her 20s!