George Stephanopoulos returns to GMA following bittersweet change at home

It was a bittersweet weekend for George Stephanopoulos and his family.

On Monday, August 19, the veteran news anchor returned to his usual spot on the Good Morning America desk, after an absence on Friday, to drop off his daughter Harper back at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee for her second year of college.

In addition to Harper, 19, the former White House Communications Director and his wife Ali Wentworth , who he married in 2001, also share daughter Elliott, 21, who is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Though it was already last year that Ali and George became empty nesters, it doesn't get any easier.

Following Harper's college drop off over the weekend, Ali took to Instagram and shared a candid photo of the moving process, one in which she appears hammering at her daughter's dorm-style wooden bed frame.

"Who doesn't love college move-in day? No air-conditioning. Need a degree in engineering to assemble anything. Who needs a shower caddy?" she joked in the caption, though then lamented: "And now I'm crying cause I already miss her…"

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Fans were then quick to take to the comments section under the post and cheer her on, though first George's GMA colleague Lara Spencer, whose daughter Kat is also entering her sophomore year at Vanderbilt, wrote: "Was so glad to see you there. The sisterhood of motherhood."

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Others followed suit with: "Drop off is sooooooo hard! Sending hugs!" and: "Oh sweetheart…yup," among strings of heart emojis.

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George recently opened up during an appearance on LIVE with Kelly and Mark about becoming empty nesters with Ali, admitting to hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos , who are also now empty nesters, that they were "really apprehensive about it."

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He explained: "Because we had kids right when we got married, so this was the first time we were alone together in the house," but maintained: "It was pretty great."

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Further sharing insight into how life at home changed for him and Ali, as Mark joked whether they had to "think of stuff to talk about," he confessed: "We did start having dinner earlier, 5:30pm, given my schedule, watched a lot of TV."

Kelly then noted: "We went to visit Lola [during her time abroad in London], and she and I had so many conversations, shallow, deep, we ran the gamut," which George resonated with. He added: "There's something about being in a new environment, everyone sees each other in a slightly different way," but that: "When they come back, it's like they never left."