Another room opens up at the Inn

Child number two has launched herself out of the nest. 

There's been a little bit of free fall with this one getting out the door.  That's what happens when you think you've made your plane reservation on the right day. Standing at the airport counter with all your worldly possessions (that you want for the next few months) packed into two bags at 4:30 am is hard enough - realizing that you purchased said ticket for a week hence is enough to make the parent standing next to you wince.
Okay, so we got that little issue resolved and off she goes to catch her plane to California and her first post college job.
This child is the first to admit that something happens to her when she is home. It has been two months since we tearfully watched her graduate from college. And yet, four years of self-sufficiency somehow didn't transition all the way over to returning home to the nest.  She is obviously competent enough - I mean, this kid did get herself a pretty cool job. However, some intangible quality reasserts itself when she is home. Concentration is a little harder than usual.  Her solitary rhythms are disrupted. I don't even want to describe what her room looked like last night on the eve of her leaving home.
It drives her crazy.
Which is why she wanted to find work far from the home hearth.  Her childhood home had to be at least a three hour drive away.  Portland was okay.  Olympia too close.
She needs her personal adult groove zone - a place where she has shown all of us over and over again how brilliant and capable she is at managing her life.  I hope that someday she'll be able to come back to where ever I live and enjoy that groove with me.
I don't try to challenge her blossoming adult self AND I completely acknowledge all the unconscious rules, roles and norms that play out in our relationship.  I have faith in the process, I like the person she is, I love her with all of my heart.
It's time, she's ready.  I'm ready and watching her fly fills me with mingled joy, pride and  - honestly - a sense of aging.  Not a bad feeling, really. Time does pass quickly. You blink and babies turn into fearless young women and men. 
Godspeed, dear one - may the wind fill your wings and be at your back.