My girl has flown the coop. Left the nest. Gone to summer camp.

Hannah leaving for summer camp saying, “Mom. Really. Is this necessary?”

At eleven years old, this is only her second time away from home alone. The first was a one-night sleep over in town. This week she is on the Sunbeam, a 75’ long ship owned by the Maine Coast Sea Mission. She is traveling as part of the EdGE summer camp “Commotion in the Ocean.” She was over-the-top excited about this trip for weeks.

Hannah has been gone for two nights and we have had only one phone call – a perfunctory “duty” call with her new second-hand cell phone.

With Hannah away, the change around the house is amazing.

• No one is repeatedly questioning what’s for dinner – beginning at 3 p.m. before my late lunch has even become a memory.
• I do not have to cook two meals – the grown up meal that actually has some flavor and the kid version of the meal sans taste.
• Snape, the cat, actually slept on my bed last night.
• I run one load of dishes every two days instead of two loads every day.
• There’s no dried crusted ketchup on the counter left for me to clean up.
• There are no dirty dishes left in the living room waiting for the maid or house elf to collect.
• I can find the pots and pans I want because the dishes are where they belong after the dishwasher is emptied.
• There are no dirty socks, undies, jeans, etc. left on the floor of my bathroom.
• The only grungy shoes left in the hall to trip over are mine.
• There’s milk left when I have my cereal in the morning.
• Paul and I can use the television because the settings have not been changed to make the TV play the Wii.
• There’s no one ringing the ship bell at the front door like crazy because they’ve locked themselves out. Again.
• She’s not asking at every turn, “Mom, do you suppose that at some point we could…” Add your own action phrase here – she’s probably said it: go to Harry Potter World, get some ice cream, buy a 3D Nintendo DS, order some books from Amazon, have Marcella spend the night, yada, yada, yada.
• There’s no one correcting Paul about his use of colorful language.
• There’s no one hanging out in my office talking my ear off while I’m racing against a deadline.
• I don’t have to juggle my work schedule with two jobs to be on time to pick her up from day camp.

And you know what?

I hate it.

You probably thought this post was about Hannah’s woes about summer camp.

Nope. I’m the one with the separation anxiety.

Friday cannot come soon enough.