best transition ever: grandparenting
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Katie Couric left and so did our kids

April 6, 2006 | by Natalie Caine | 4 Comments

Does it happen to you when you see people tear up and hug goodbye that you flash back to hugging your kid

4 Responses

  1. Jana says:

    The grief is a bit overwhelming right now … I am giving myself permission to grieve. Thank you for providing this forum to share our pain.

  2. Jodi Whetstone says:

    I am so happy and relieved to have found this web site. I am so alone in my greif. Everyone keeps telling me I should be happy but I’m not. I’m mad and sad. I have truley cherished raising my children and yes I often found peace in just looking in on them while they were sleeping and I am so sad that I don’t have my oldest with me daily and we will be spending our first Easter apart. I am hoping to find friendship and advice in this new phase of motherhood.

  3. Karen says:

    I have know about EN syndrome for a long time. Always heard others talk about it. Our 22 year old daughter is moving out this week to an apt., and our 19 year old son is in the Army and just left two weeks ago for Afghanistan for a year. I just feel so alone, even though my husband is here. I feel like I am letting him down, but all I do is cry. I miss my kids so much and then the fear of where our
    son is, it’s just so overwhelming. I, too, miss looking in on them when they were little AND just weeks ago when they were here. How does any one EVER get over this?

  4. Sarah Theberge says:

    I have been trying hard to understand the process that I’m going through and in my research stumbled upon this sight – WHAT A RELIEF!
    I too have been told that this will get better and after 9 months (hmmm, a birth??), I will say that the waves are a bit more manageable. I talk with my kids frequently and our oldest still comes for Sunday dinner. I’m amazed at the beauty of my children’s adult-ness and I love seeing who they have become. I think for me, what I’m grieving though is the childhood. I loved our lazy days together when they were little, I loved how they loved me, I loved their enthusiasm for the newness of the day. Those are just a few of the things I miss the most and my sadness is wrapped around the fact that these are only memories now. It seems to me that some of what the process is about is our own difficulties managing the aging process??? along with finding our new role with parenting.
    I’m looking forward to learning more from those going through this process and those who have more experience.

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Natalie Caine, M.A. natalie@lifeintransition.org