Barack Obama calls dropping off Malia at Harvard like 'open-heart surgery'

Despite leading a country for eight years, Barack Obama is surprisingly not immune to expressing human emotions.

While at an event for the Beau Biden Foundation Monday, the former president opened up about all the feelings he has experienced on the journey towards becoming an empty nester now that Malia has headed off to Harvard. 

SEE ALSO: The Obamas moved Malia into her Harvard dorm during the eclipse, those smart, sneaky parents

"For those of us who have daughters, it just happens fast," he said, as seen in a video provided by WDEL. 

"I dropped off Malia at college, and I was saying to Joe and Jill [Biden] that it was a little bit like open-heart surgery," he explained

"I was proud that I did not cry in front of her," Obama continued. "But on the way back, the Secret Service was off looking straight ahead, pretending they weren't hearing me as I sniffled and blew my nose. It was rough."

Obama brought up the memory in order to make a point that... "at the end of our lives, whatever else we've accomplished, the things that we'll remember are the joys that our children, and hopefully way later our grandchildren, bring us."

He, along with former first lady Michelle, dropped Malia off at her Harvard dorm during the eclipse this month. The 19 year old is joining the university's freshman class (the most diverse yet) after taking a gap year, in which she interned for producer Harvey Weinsten and hung out with Mark Ruffalo.  

(H/T CNN) 

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