It's not so different, really.  Nothing but a few years anyway.

Sending a kid back to college in a cold climate isn't that different that when we used to bundle them up for the snow to the point where they could barely move,  or ski, or skate or just walk to the car.  Now, its about bundling up their stuff and shoving it into a suitcase (or several as the case may be) and sending them with more stuff than they really need. I can't help myself and admit to getting bogged down with my mother-ness.  I think, especially with daughters, that it isn't that dissimilar to the giant snow suit, scarf, hat, gloves and boots we used to wear as kids.  The instinct to keep your child warm, especailly the California girl who is unaccustomed to freezing weather, heading east for winter meant loading up on all the goods; coats, sweaters, long underwear, boots, hats, gloves and the like.

It made me think about my own childhood, when after being loaded into our snow gear, we could barely walk, run or play because of all the "mom" layers of clothing.  The mom layers take a slightly different form today but the intent is the same.  So off she goes, suitcases in hand, ready to face the cold, the  inevitable changes of life away from home, stocked up with all that I think she could ever need to survive her first major winter.  Perhaps and likely over doing it, but having no will to pull back from the instinct to keep them warm and safe.