I took the day off today. My youngest is leaving tomorrow to attend a school abroad for a year and I wanted to spend the day with my boys. We have had a good day – just finishing his packing, enjoying meals and chatting. He will have a great year – I have no doubt about that. Otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed on letting him go. He is such a clever young man – and he will have so much use from this experience later on in life. When my parents agreed to let me go away for a year things were so different. No internet. No cellphones. No texting or chatting. No kik. No what’s-up. No Skype. No nothing. Just occasional phone-calls and loads of hand written letters sent with regular mail. And I was half way across the world. And didn’t come home for the school breaks or holidays. He will be a 2,5 hrs flight away and back home every other month. I can’t imagine the worry and agony my parents must have felt. But I do have a whole new sense of understanding of what they must have gone through. And I love them for letting me go and allowing me the opportunity of a life time.