For some empty nesters, having their children head off to college can be hard to handle. They miss their kids and feel sad that they’re no longer living at home.

It might take time for them to adjust to having their place all to themselves. Some parents can’t wait for the day when their kids leave. They still love them, but having them all grown up and on their own can now be an opportunity for them to pursue hobbies and passions they’ve put on the back burner while raising their children.

Kids though might look forward to the day when they head off to university. Like their parents, it’s a new chapter of life; one filled with exciting adventures. They’ll start new relationships; some which hopefully will last a lifetime. They’ll learn who they are and find their place in this big crazy universe.

By having their space to grow up, they’ll perhaps experiment with adult situations they couldn’t otherwise test under their parent’s supervision. If their parents raised them right, they will lead healthy lives filled with happiness and joy.

For Cheryl Gottlieb Boxer, the time had come for her son to return to college for his second semester. Letting him go this time was just as tricky as it was when she first sent him off to school. She dropped him off at the train station then returned home.

Without her son around, Cheryl found her home felt quieter and more empty than usual. After she started missing her son, she began finding random notes from him all over the house. Cheryl shared her story on the Facebook page, grown and flown. It got a lot of attention. Within three days, her post received over 800 shares and over 11,000 reactions.

Today we dropped our son off at the train station to return to college for the spring semester of his freshman year.I…

Posted by No Sick Days For Mom—Cheryl Gottlieb Boxer, Writer on Wednesday, January 17, 2018

“Today we dropped our son off at the train station to return to college for the spring semester of his freshman year.

“I returned home and found the house too quiet. I missed his chatter, his guitar music, and video games.

“Every corner of the house felt barren in his absence.

“And then I started finding notes. Everywhere. He left me notes in all the places he knows I’ll find them. “Have a nice bath” on the edge of the bathtub.

“You look beautiful” on the mirror of my medicine cabinet. “I love you” inside my coffee maker.

“Finding these notes has made me so happy. And I keep finding more. Each note I find I’m afraid is the last, but then I find another.

“When he called me with a travel update, I asked him why he left them, and he told me because he doesn’t want me to forget him.

“As if that’s possible.

“I assume by now he has found the note I left inside the dinner I packed for him. “Be careful, and I  love you.”

“Because I don’t want him to forget me either.”

Cheryl’s story moved many online. They let her know how much it touched them in the comments. One person wrote: “What a lucky Mom you are to have such a thoughtful young man. I think he is lucky too! You’ve done a great job!”

“Such a sweet gesture,” another woman wrote. “Before I was good about texting I would write notes  to family when they were away for long weekends.”

Another woman shared her own story of leaving a note for her mom.

She said: “I once left an ‘I love you’ note taped to my mom’s bathroom mirror when I went back to college after break. It’s still there 27 years later.”

Have you ever left sweet notes for loved ones? Have any been left for you?