Coming from a dad who has been accused of "helicopter parenting" on occasion, it can be pretty agonizing to let things go. I have done my best, even when there are silences of months, and only rarely have pushed our offspring to respond. I guess it is part of the process we simply must accept of separation. Friends have said, you lose them in their 20s, but they come back. We respect it, but of course, we worry. She graduates in June, her own life awaits to be made.