My son and I had a very stormy relationship and he moved out to live with friends when he was sixteen. At the time it was a ral relief and now, twenty years later we get on well, but neither of us would wnt to live in the same house again. My daughter bought a house with her fiance when she was eighteen and took her furniture with her a,d I got a touch of the empty nest syndrome when I went to her room the day she moved out and looked at the expanse of empty carpet, which was usually unseen, generally being used as a wardrobe! She now lives about 100 miles away and has plans that, when I retire I will move up closer to her. She's even picked out the type of house she thinks would suit. I have a feeling that she and I will be having quite interesting discussions on this subject as I have a life in Hertford and don't particularly want to move.

Empty nest, I can understand the feeling but I think that we spend enough time bringing up our children - when they leave that's our time to let go, but I think it depends what you have in your life beside your family. I love my two, but my life now does not revolve around them - I will always be there to try and help out, but have accepted that both are adults with their own lives, in which I am on the periphery and, to my mind, that is as it shoulld be.