What was I thinking? I must have been crazy! Three years ago it seemed so far away – I felt the day would never come and so agreed recklessly with her plan.

“Of course you can study abroad! What a great idea! As long as your grades are good and you stay under what we budgeted for your college expenses – why not? When you’re a Junior!” A mother’s bargaining, bartering, bribing…

It had worked countless times in the past: “Of course you can have that cookie – as long as you eat your vegetables first like a good girl!”

But the years have flown by and now my good girl is hurtling through space at 35,000 feet somewhere over Spain, on her way to Australia, of all places - the other side of the world! – to a strange land filled with people she doesn’t even know. And I am worrying about my baby so far from home. Somehow I was not expecting to miss her so much…

But something else surprised me. She walked into the kitchen this morning before we left for the airport, and what had she chosen to wear on her adventure? The cowl I made her for Christmas! There it was, swaddled around her neck, like a talisman to protect her on her journey.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and casually asked “Oh, you’re wearing the cowl?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “it’s cozy and if I get tired on the plane I could always snuggle it like a pillow.”

Yes, that cowl I spent days making in the rush before Christmas, in the colors she had chosen. I had hoped she would like it – it’s so hard to know, especially with girls that age. We exchanged a look, and I knew she appreciated the love that went into it. So in a way, I will be there with her, although she is so far from home.

Update January 13, 2014: she seems to be having a great time - (see her in photo on top of a human pyramid - and her first surfing lesson!)