Q: Dear Elle, my youngest daughter is about to leave home so my husband and I will be empty nesters. I have really mixed feelings about this. How did you navigate it – Lauren*
Elle: That resonates with me, Lauren! As a mother who has watched her boys leave the nest, I can empathise. Due to my career and their father living abroad, we have been a family of the world for a very long time. Their study, work and relationships, especially over the past five years, have meant that travel and separation is part and parcel for us.
Lately, the distance has been made a lot easier as we all live close by now. Cy has just freshly graduated from university in Boston after four years away and lives barely 15 minutes from my home. Flynn, my oldest, graduated six years ago and also lives 15 minutes away, so we are lucky enough to see each other often. Even if just for a quick hour or so, a cuddle, a chat and a laugh. All too often, they are simply running past to restock their (and their girlfriends’) WelleCo favourites! Sometimes we meet in London, or if it’s a special family occasion, elsewhere, to reconnect and to remember just how blessed we are to have each other.
There are months, however, when we don’t see each other at all, but we still stay in touch with text or Facetime most days. I am still ‘Mum’ in the ‘favourites’ on their phones and still receive their phone calls for advice or just a little hello. These are reminders for me that they still value their Mum, despite their towering heights and big dreams. For that, I am grateful. Today, I like to see my role in their life as a guide rather than an authority figure, and I aim for them to learn that their own inner authority is what matters most.
Even in the earliest days of mothering, I knew this day would come, so I set out to deliberately foster a sense of freedom and independence in them (and in myself!). It turned out to be the most valuable gift I could give them.
Read the rest over here at Get the Gloss.