Edinburgh is alive with a flood of brand new students. For many the Freshers Week events are past and the first classes have started. I was by the halls of residence for University of Edinburgh last night and saw the familiar clusters of new fresh faced students finding out about the city with new friends.

You can tell the students by the fact that they wander around in large groups carrying  plastic bags from the local supermarket – maybe containing beans, milk and bread. Or maybe something a whole lot less nutritious.

My friend’s son came home for the first time since leaving for his first year at Aberdeen University when I was visiting last week. It would appear that he ate the entire pack of food she supplied for him at the start within a few days. Like many a Mum ( and a few Dads) she was worried that he might not eat good quality food - but he did only everything at once.

Oh how I remember that feeling of sending one of my babies from the nest. It is not a fond memory

I now look back on it  – proud that she had the wherewithal to step out on her own. Heading to a new city, living away from home, having to manage her own budget, making friends with her new flatmates, coping with the workload imposed, growing up….

…and there was I, missing the little girl that she will be forever to me.

I thought I was the only one. Of course I wasn’t.

Shortly after my daughter moved away I met a young man who was asking about my family. I told him how I was feeling. He said that he had only recently found out that when his Mum drove him to the station to catch the train back to Uni - after he had gone she sat in the carpark crying. What she did not know was that when he got onto the train he too had tears in his eyes.

So my daughter has graduated – and cannot afford yet to get her own place – so my empty nest is full again. How will I feel the next time she goes?