Faith, I'm glad your daughter's found something that she wants to do and which makes you proud of her.

As my kids have gotten their own lives and have matured, I find that they find ways to stay in touch that surprise me. Both have married. Now I have a DIL who calls me "Mom," something I won't let my kids call me and I like it from her. She's a sweet girl and my son loves her a lot. And I have a SIL who will send me a text or e-mail me and he'll call me occasionally just to chat. So it's strange--they've gone away but I've gained so much more from it.

And though they've had to stretch and grow and we've had our bumps along the way, things are ok. They're good. And we've come to terms with the fact that we're different people and that's fine.

So don't think that they're going to forget to come back or not think of you when they're not there with you. They won't. You don't have that kind of relationship with your kids.