This paper revisits Diana Leonard's seminal paper "Keeping close and spoiling in a south Wales town", by drawing on one mother and daughter case study. Leonard focused on geographical closeness and the strategies employed by parents to keep their children living at home, rather than sending them to university. In contrast, this paper explores the contradictory nature of remaining geographically close, living within the family home and commuting to a local university. This paper argues that "keeping close" by remaining at home whilst studying cannot negate the psychological separation: rather the maternal relationship can be threatened by an "ambiguous loss", the loss of a loved one who is physically present but psychologically absent. In this paper, I focus on the psychological strategies employed to engender closeness and maintain continuity, under the impossibly constant threat and everyday reality of change. (Contains 4 notes.)