I live in a very different part of the country (inland SoCal) with relatively low humidity and hot dry summers. However I thought I'd show off my LA. :-) I first fell in love with her at Descanso Gardens, 160 acres of botanical gardens and displays. She was in partial shade and her sweet spicy scent captured my attention --- she had me at first scent! So I found her on-line and have had her now for at least 6 years or more. She's in front of a low retaining wall in all-day sun (think: hot, reflective, un-protected sun) in rich amended clay. I tend to forget to give her the same attention I give the HTs -- the same water, food, etc -- partly because she just seems healthier. Anyway this is a pic I took this month after giving her a thorough (and very late) dead-heading of last year's blooms. This is her mature size, about 3 feet tall and about 5 feet wide. ... and this is a close-up of her taken last month... ... and today, in all her ruffly goodness...

Yeah! I watched both on and off for years!

I am also the mother of three, with only the youngest (20 yo son) at home. I talk to my oldest son about once a week; he works at night so we usually talk on the weekend. We have always had a very close relationship and he lives about 10 miles from us. My second child is a girl and she lives about two hours away. Her work hours are from 10 am - 7 pm which I know she doesn't like but has to put up with for now. She e-mails irregularly, usually very late at night. She lives on a farm with her boyfriend so at this time of year they are extremely busy. I love her and miss her but realize this is a time when I'm not as important right now. She has always been fiercly independant, and I admire that about her. My youngest is on the autism spectrum, a fella of very few words. He was almost three before he started talking. His grandfather lives far away and just visited a week ago. He was surprised to get in a few conversations, he said that's the most he's ever talked to DS! But I know how the OP feels, I will feel lonely if and when he moves out. Luckily I have lots of friends who have no lack of conversational skills!

Considering that there was a point when I was about 2-3 years old, out playing on the front grass while my mom worked in the flower beds - and some guy in a van parked across the street but not directly in front of the house...mom heard the phone ring and in the time it took her to go in and tell whoever that she'd call them back, the guy had gotten out of his van and was proceeding towards me like he intended to snatch me up and drive off...before she started yelling at him and he ran back to his vehicle then sped away...I get that parents need to be watchful when it comes to who, what, when and where their children are. It's not like I'm advocating for 6 year old kids to freely roam their street or walk 3 blocks to and from school by themselves (if the bus drops them off at the stop sign on the corner 5 houses down, depending on the neighborhood and the child, it probably isn't a big deal if you wait for them in your front yard instead of insisting on being physically and exactly there at the drop point when they get off the bus or get on the bus until they're starting high school...or maybe not before they're leaving for college - presuming they're going to be allowed to go to college that is far enough away that they will be living in a dorm - if one is a *bit* of a helicopter type.) The problem is, everyone imagines that the worst is only possible if there's a stranger lurking around to cause such things. We don't like to think of the uncomfortable truth that children are most often victimized by someone they know (sometimes it's someone living in the home, sometimes it's a neighbor, a church group leader, people the parents know and believe they can trust, even spouses and their other children...I'm not trying to scare people here, but our society currently struggles to understand that some of the problem is...we teach children to unquestioningly respect adults and do as they're told, we believe that a child molester or a rapist must somehow look the depraved, obviously evil, criminal-minded look in their eyes 'after school special depicted' part while they lurk in darkened alleys or loiter on the edges of the emptying playground as the sun begins to set, lying in wait for the 'ideal victim' - one who acts/dresses/associates with 'good' people only/never goes places where bad things could happen - and we raise girls to keep their voices down, to go along to get along, and let a guy down gently no matter how persistent he might be - but continue to teach boys that they must take charge and aggressively pursue what they want, that they won't succeed as men if they don't swagger in and take what they believe is their due, all of these things set children up for problems with self esteem, difficulty in how to proceed w/regard to their right to their bodily autonomy and the boundaries they set with others about such matters to be respected, self-doubt and issues with how to go about being an independent adult when their entire lives up until they finish college or begin working for more than just some 'pocket money' have been overseen/dictated/helicoptered by their parent(s). Basically, I think that it's not about when they can be left alone for a while, the real need is for parents to teach their kids the things that they absolutely must know for the time when they are no longer children but adults on their own - and this has to gradually happen from the very earliest point in their lives, give them the chance to take risks and potentially fail when the consequences aren't the kind that lands them in prison. If parents must work multiple jobs to keep the lights on and a roof over the family's heads then the community needs to find ways to be empowered - the proverbial village - that can help guide children and provide structure, purpose - rather than simply complain that there are too many who seek a 'family' of the sort that a street gang offers them, or looking at the issue as "not your kids not your problem" kind of thing.