Watching children grow up and leave home can be a tough pill to swallow for parents — just ask Sara Evans.

The "Born to Fly" hitmaker's nearly-19-year-old son, Avery, is moving away from his mother's Birmingham, Ala., area home to follow his dreams in Nashville, and Mom is struggling with it.

"I walked upstairs and saw his empty bedroom," Evans writes on Instagram, sharing a photo of that empty bedroom. "For all you moms out there with your eldest child just leaving home, let’s all say a prayer for each other tonight. This is really, really difficult. More than I thought it would be."

"I knew this day was coming but wow, it hits you like a ton of bricks!" she continues. "My girls and I have been crying for several days."

It's been a moment that Evans has had her mind for a long time — in fact, she put her feelings into the song "Letting You Go," which was featured on her 2017 album Words.

“(Songwriters) Victoria Banks and Emily Shackelton came down to my house," Evans told Taste of Country in an interview last year. “We started talking about our kids, and I was telling them that I can't believe Avery is going to be a senior ... I don't know where the time went. It's just devastating. We just decided to write about that, and what it's like to be in this phase of life when your oldest child is getting ready to go off to college."

Avery is the oldest of Evans' three biological children, but her blended family with husband Jay Barker gives her seven kids in total.

"I do know that we are so blessed," the singer says, "and I know that this is all a part of life and I am so happy for my son and excited for him to begin his journey into his adult life."

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