Being determinedly pollyannaish: it's true that the idea that leaving hunting = abandoning family got drilled into Sam very early, and cemented by the Stanford fight, and that Dean's abandonment issues have sometimes reinforced the impressions left by John. I can see how there could be a kind of liberation from guilt in thinking that this time he could walk away and try something else and the act of doing so wouldn't be hurting anyone or leaving anyone. Sam's leaving has always been hurtful, and that in turn has been hurtful to Sam. I don't like the idea of Sam being that happy without Dean one little bit, but I can honestly see where the feeling might be coming from, and my experience with that kind of entanglement and disentanglement is that it's about how much you love the people involved, not about how little you love them.

Huh. I may possibly overidentify with this.

On another note, I still find it really hard to believe that Sam isn't damaged. Dude. Last nine/thirty/210 years ringing a bell?