Natal, compared to the ratings of other shows that air opposite of the soaps, people ARE watching. Granted, the ratings have done a nose dive due to the cable shows, but their ratings are equal to the soaps. Except Y&R which has always had high ratings. Just don't cancel my Y&R and I'll be happy! Last night a friend called me from California who doesn't even watch AMC, just to voice her disappointment that they're getting rid of an American icon. Soaps in general. I know this will sound silly, but I relate cancelling soaps to the majority of people who stopped sending old-fashioned and beautiful Christmas cards and are now sending pictures of their families. Just call me Scrooge. :)

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!

I know a woman who is in a similar situation. Her daughter was murdered by her estranged husband who then committed suicide. The children were in the house at the time and were about ages 8 and 12. They have a grandmother who is probably in her late 70's and an aunt who is single, by choice, and who has no desire to rear children. They have hired a nanny, are sending them to summer camp, and will send them to boarding school when old enough to go. Frankly, I think it would have been better if they had been put up for adoption as they have to know they are not wanted. They've really had quite enough trauma in their young lives.

As a southerner we have a history of telling stories and it was very much a part of my upbringing though trying to fit all those tales into some sort of coherent history is another matter. We practiced our own history with my mother starting "remember whens" My mother was a spoiled only child and most of her stories were about how special she was to her doting father. My father did not talk much about his childhood though I know they moved frequently as my grandfather was a mason and builder. I spent a good deal of time with my mothers step-mother-my Grannie- and learned as much about her life as I could. She was a child of the depression-something that for her on a prosperous farm in the south was just something they heard about happening elsewhere. Grow your own food and make your own clothes and you only need money for taxes and coffee and salt. I loved hearing about her life. she was one of a big family of girls and they had to work like boys. Their father did not want them to leave home so for each of them it was an adventure to leave. I don't have children and have always lived all the way across the country from my kin so I have had no one to pass on what I know nor about my own life but there you are. I love social history and yet historians will use the lives of the rich and famous thinking they are telling you how people lived in the past-the one tenth of the one percent.