My kids are using their time to travel this summer, and they’re not taking me with them.

All of them have reached the ages where they can travel with friends, or even by themselves.

We did a big family trip last summer, and with the uncertainty around A’s internship during the planning window for a trip this year, we just decided that we’d seize whatever opportunities came up for us individually, and maybe if we were lucky, we’d get a beach day or two as a family.

A’s remote internship has provided a few opportunities for travel within driving distance and he’s been able to tack on a day to the front or end of the trip to meet up with friends who are in the area.

He’s also decided to brush up on local historical sites like Gettysburg and the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York. Trips to Philly, Harrisburg, West Virginia and Kentucky are on the agenda for later this summer.

G and E have had a few opportunities to go away for long weekends, or even a full week, with friends to more typical vacation spots, mainly lakes and beaches.

The highlight for them, however, has been a nine-day trip to France with a school adjacent group that includes a ton of their friends.

I am eternally grateful that when the opportunity came to take the trip, I was able to say, without hesitation, go ahead. Now, the trip they went on was an educational one. I’d been lucky enough to go on a few of these when I was younger, and truly, I had absolutely no desire to go on this trip with them.

Don’t get me wrong, I do hope to return to Europe someday, especially sections of France and Spain, but in no way shape or form did I have any desire to spent a small part of my summer trucking after kids through every tourist spot and chateau in France.

It made me incredibly proud, and broke my heart a little bit, when both kids didn’t bat an eye when I said I had no plans to join them.

While I was worried about things like the heat wave that has had most of France in its grip for weeks, I wasn’t terribly worried about my kids getting along just fine without me.

I also knew that they would be so busy, and tired, that they wouldn’t have too much time to get homesick.

I even expected a little bit of hesitation once we actually arrived at the airport, maybe a little bit of second guessing themselves as they prepared to board their first trans-Atlantic flight, without me.

Nope. I had to settle for a quick hug as they dashed off to meet their excited friends. I actually had to summon them back to give me said hug.

There comes a point where after you’ve paid for all the little things they think they might need (charging block compatible with European outlets) and advised on packing (take two of everything out, and make sure you have room for what you buy over there) and driven them to the airport (even I’m not ready to let G deal with long-term parking at the airport), that you’re just extra and it’s time to leave, as gracefully as you can.

I may have shed a few tears as I was driving away, but I resisted the urge to loop around and say goodbye one more time.

I’ve kept an eye on Life360, as A made his way across New York State, and E and G bounced from attraction to attraction. I laughed as the emoji indicated they were walking at a 4 to 5 mph pace.

I gratefully accepted any photos they sent my way, and E was kind enough to check in nightly with a little report on her activities.

I gave up on G’s responses after his comment on the Louvre was “Good. I saw painting.” Luckily, I’ve spotted him in photos from other people, and he appears to have had an excellent time.

When A was born, someone passed on the nugget that having kids was “letting a piece of your heart run around outside your body.”

I can’t say I felt that way when they were younger, probably because they were close enough that they still felt attached. Even with A being at school for the last two years, I still thought it was overstating things.

However, this summer of adventure, letting them go off to experience places and events that I am not a part of, has finally driven that point home.

Liz Pinkey’s column appears on Saturdays in the Times News