Reality is setting in

Hermit Crab is turning 18 in 4 days. I spent the afternoon with my best friend from high school (our 25th reunion is coming up-we nearly cried about that too!) shopping for her birthday presents. I think I went a little overboard, but this is a momentous occasion and deserves to be special. She wrote a very detailed list with exclamation marks next to the ones she really wants like the pre-sale order of the Twilight DVD and a Wicked puzzle. Which I found out she found on-line and not at a B&N store-grrrr. I also went on-line today and paid her tuition deposit for college. Sigh. It is really happening. Most days lately I want to kick her to the curb as she has been extra lazy and mouthy. But as I clicked on the send button, it really hit me. She is leaving me in about 5 months. I know she will be home at Thanksgiving and Christmas and all summer working, she is, for all intents and purposes, leaving. I don't know that I'm ready.