I know how hard it is to have both kids leave at the same time. September 2000 my son left for college on the other side of the state. I cried for three days. Two weeks later my 16 year old daughter died. I'm still crying.

My son still lives on the other side of the state, now with his girlfriend and her three kids. We don't get to see them very often.

Ohhh. So sorry. My grieving over growing up years being over is not comparable to losing a daughter.

Thank you for sharing.

~ Faith

I am so sorry to hear this. Please accept my sincere sympathy. You went thru a lot and you still are. Take care.

I remember the year my first daughter went off to college. I had promised myself that I would not cry, and I didn't. Her college was 3 hours away and we went up the very next weekend to see her. Yeah, I know I should have waited a little while longer. But I'm a Mom and that's what we do. I was sure that she needed me for something! What shocked me was that her laundry was done, room clean, had a great bunch of friends and a very serious boyfriend that she eventually married. I cried most of the way home!!!!! She was growing up!

It was completely different when the second went to college. She went to the same college so it was still close enough to visit her and I knew her sis lived only about 30 minutes away. But I was in the middle of my first big exacerbation. I even took my Solu Medrol IVs with me!

Life was different after she left. I was so career minded. Nursing came first and unfortunately my family was a distant fourth at best. So there we were, empty Nester's. Hi, I'm your wife, the one you chose 27 years ago to be your beloved. How are you? We had to find each other. I was off work and it was nice to have supper cooking when he got home and sit and talk. So MS and empty nesting came together pretty well.

Yes, they do come back home.

I'm so sorry for your loss.



My son moved 2.5 hrs away right after his baby girl was born. I was SO glad, 6 mos later, when they moved closer.

I'm the one who's moving away now - the other end of the country. This is tough, but what can I do? It's where the dh's job is...

I was sad when ds moved out, then moved farther away. But that, to me was the way it was supposed to be. My theory was always that I was raising people, not children. I was always prepping them for living their own lives, making their own choices, making their own way in this world.

We're gonna miss them, sure. But Trish made a good point, we have to trust that we taught them what they need to know, that they watched how we did it and will be able to follow our examples. They are every bit as wonderful as we think they are, and maybe even smarter, more resourceful, when they are called on to be.

Don't panic over every failure or time they don't do it the way you would. Look for every accomplishment and praise it. It's a learning curve, but they are going to figure it out and do just fine.