Summer Camp

I just put two of my children on a church van to go away to summer camp for the first time. This is also my first time sending any of my children to an overnight camp. I think I hid my nervousness pretty well, trying not to add to their anxiety, but when Grace, 10, said she felt sick, I could sympathize. My stomach is in knots now and probably will be until I get that first phone call. In this day and age you just never know what could happen. It's scary for all of us for different reasons.
I can remember the first time I went to overnight camp in fourth grade. It was sponsored by the Roanoke Rescue Mission and it was the second summer that we lived in Roanoke. I had been attending their youth groups every week throughout the school year and they sponsored me to go to Camp Bethel (if I remember correctly). I was scared to death! I knew most of the kids from my youth group, so it wasn't that. I think it was just the idea of being away from the familiarity of home. In my case it wasn't so much missing my parents, they were rarely home anyway. It was plain and simple fear of the unknown.
I'm sure Gracie was feeling some of this as well. She is a rising fifth grader, not too far from the age I was when I went away for the first time. Corey, on the other hand, who is seven, was surprisingly excited. He is the classic mama's boy, so I was really surprised when I could barely get a hug before he left! Grace is the opposite, extremely independent and self-reliant (no idea where she gets it from), but I had to force her to go. I told her she will thank me when she gets home. I'm crossing my fingers on that!
I don't want to give voice to my fears, however I'm not sure who has more reason to be scared, me or her! I guess this is part of my inner control freak- I don't let my children too far out of my sight. I am a hover mother. So to let them go to camp for SIX WHOLE DAYS without me is encouraging growth on both sides of this fence. I have to learn to trust them out in the world without me and they have to learn to forge their own way in that same world. SCARY STUFF. I always like to say that I am not raising children, I am raising future adults, so this is a good step for us. They are getting to practice the foundation I laid for them for the past seven to ten years and I get to practice letting go. I don't want dependent adult children because let's face the plus side to having children while I'm young: Mama will still be hot enough to enjoy herself when they are grown! :D I also don't want to be the meddling mother (or mother-in-law). I want my children to be whole, well-rounded and self-sufficient. This is the first of the nest emptying steps. Let's see how WE get through this test!