A’s big trip to Chicago provided me with glimpse into our future.

With only two more years left of high school, it won’t be long until he’s heading off for a lot more than a week on a college campus. I’m pleased to report that it looks like it’s going to be smooth sailing, at least on his end, and with the help of technology, it might not be the worst thing on my end either.

While losing his dad has certainly made things more difficult and a lot sadder, A has always been a focused, driven kid, and I know that he has his heart set on forging ahead despite the challenges that have been thrown his way. I also know that he wants to make sure that he does his father proud in everything that he does.

When the opportunity to make this trip came about, neither one of us had any real qualms about him going. In fact, the only concern I had is that he might not want to come home when it was over. I know that A is the kind of kid who is happiest when he’s surrounded by people who challenge him or teach him new things, and this conference promised to have an abundance of both.

Cellphones are wonderful tools to have when you’re a little nervous about where your kid is and what he’s up to, but they only work when the kid in question takes a break from all the fun he’s having and responds to your texts. Luckily, the crew he was with kept Instagram updated with all the group activities, and I was able to spend the time combing through reels and pictures to find him. Every time I did, he had the biggest smile on his face. Although he did share a few selfies, I was happy to see he spent more time living in the moment than capturing it for posterity.

While I wasn’t necessarily surprised to see him performing in the talent show, I was shocked to see him labeled as a “crowd favorite” and to hear the audience roaring as he hit all the right notes in his performance.

Even though he’s become an adept performer through his high school drama club, getting up in front of 400 of your peers that you’ve never met before and belting out a well-known song takes a certain amount of chutzpah.

I didn’t get one single text message or phone call where he sounded lonely or scared or the least bit homesick. He’s a far cry from where I was in high school when three days spent at cheerleading camp were the longest I’d ever been away from home alone, and I waited in line every night to use the pay phone to call home.

He was polite enough to message a quick update every night before he went to bed, and he did respond to a few “info needed” texts that I sent him during the week, but by and large, he was on his own. It was tough on me, but knowing he was thriving made it a lot easier than it could have been.

It was all going too well, there had to be a hiccup. And, so there was. Upon arriving at the airport to come home, he discovered that his flight was canceled. He had been rebooked on a later flight but would be stuck at the airport for the rest of the day.

Knowing that the weather and airline staffing has disrupted many a flight these days, I was nervous that he would be stuck there all day and then they would cancel the later flight, too, leaving him to sleep in the airport or try to navigate back to a hotel for a night.

I suggested that he try to talk to an airline rep and see if there were any other flights coming into to other nearby airports. The next time I talked to him, he informed me that he’d booked himself onto an earlier flight into Philly. Just like that. My 16-year-old son switched planes and cities, calmly, and effectively. He then informed me he was heading to Starbucks to grab a drink and a snack before he boarded the plane.

Although that flight was delayed a few more times, eventually he made it to Philly and I was there to meet him. I swear I’d put a gawky young teenager on the plane only a week before, and I wasn’t quite sure who the confident young man striding through the terminal to meet me was, but sure enough, it was A. It’s amazing how much a person can change in just a few short days.

Much to his dismay, I got a little emotional. Even if Steve had been standing there with me to greet him, I know I would have been a little misty eyed. It’s both wonderful and heartbreaking to see the infant you used to swaddle booking his own flights and flying halfway across the country on his own.

This little jaunt has whetted his appetite and he’s eager to start exploring more colleges and making plans for his future. It’s a good thing he’s so enthusiastic, because right now, my instincts tell me to hold all three of them closer than ever, and I know that I can’t hold them back just because of my own fears and hesitations.

When I asked A what the one thing he learned over the course of his week away was, he told me, “that I have a lot to learn.”

I learned that I’m going to have to learn how to let him go.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.