I was the first to leave so I didn't have the feeling of guilt of leaving my mom alone. On top of that I only moved about 20 minutes away so it wasn't bad. I'd just finished college and was ready to leave. It was another year before I moved about 2 hours away so she was used to not seeing me every day so I guess you could say I eased into leaving. Best advice I can give you, cell phone family plans, it saves a lot in phone bills.