Oh boy, can I empathize with you. All I can say is be sure to listen to your daughters with both your ears and your heart. We just went through a week from h*ll with my kids--in one week the mother of one of my son's friends died, one of our pediatrians also died. At least both of these were "natural" causes. That was on a Thursday and Saturday. My poor daughter returned to college on Sunday night and that same night one of the boys who lived directly across the hall from her climbed out his window and hung himself from the tree that abutted the dorm. And unfortunately, several of the boys discovered him as they awoke the next morning and looked out of their window to see what the day was like. Then, on Thursday of the same week one of her high school friends died from complications from cystic fibrosis. She called me, basically beside herself, and I told her that her mother had cancelled her classes on Friday and to get herself home for hugs. Thank god she's close enough to do that. We spent the weekend just being available to her, to hold her and listen. It seemed to help. It also helped that her college is very small and was extremely responsive to the kids. Grief counselors, a constant presence by the president of the college, and even a petting zoo brought in for the kids. Profs were terrific, and flexible. I had reservations about the school, mostly because of the size (only 1200 kids) but think I'll have to rethink!
