I overheard a woman in the grocery lane recently, who basically agreed with another woman about how l-o-n-g the process of GETTING THE KIDS OUT OF THE HOUSE IS! I don’t have any misconceptions about mom (or dad)- I know she is, at heart, a woman with her own life and who sees me as an adult as well as her son- but to be glad they’re finally out? And to hope for it from like, age 12? Damn. 
Empty nest my foot.
So, confession time: assuming you’re not one of the rare dopers with a relation on these boards, let’s hear about how common it is to be relieved of getting the kids out of the house.
My oldest is in college. And, full disclosure, she’s a great kid. Works hard, does well in school, doesn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs, lets me know when she’ll be out late, has a nice, steady boyfriend.
But - I still felt relieved when she left for school. Because she’s kinda too much like an adult at 18 to be comfortable being a kid. And we don’t need another adult around the house. So there’s tension…
Well, mine commutes to college, so he’s still at home. I’ll definitely have mixed feelings…on one hand, we’re all we’ve got because his father took off long before son was born and neither one of us ever saw him again. I’m currently single and have been for a long time (actually never have married but it’s been 15 years since I’ve had a cohabitator and 10 years since I’ve had a serious relationship) and I never had another child after him.
On the other hand, it’ll be nice not to have to coordinate washing, showering, TV, computer, even parking with another person. Plus, there’s only so long a healthy young man can remain at home without eventually damaging his social life.
We are very close, more so than most mothers and sons, but he’s gotta go sometime and it’s not like I haven’t known it since before he was born.
Yes, very mixed feelings.
My youngest left the end of August. She loves college (her older sister graduated a year ago) so we have no guilt about being happy she is gone. It’s very quiet, we can eat whenever we want on the weekends, and there are certain activities we can do without interference from kids in the wrong place.
Watch TV of course. What? 