<p>Am I naive in hoping my son will be more mature on his 20th birthday next fall than he has been as a teenager? Progress sometimes seems so slow… Congrats on the milestone!</p>
<p>^^wis: D1 is 19 and, like you, I am naive…sometimes it feels like she is going in the other direction…</p>
<p>teri: happy bday to D2…</p>
<p>I’m the youngest of four. A few months before I turned 20, my parents took in a 12 year old. My parents were teenager-less for the two months in between when I turned 20 and the younger girl turned 13. I guess it was so much fun they wanted to do it all over again? </p>
<p>Happy Birthday to your daughter!</p>
<p>corranged… it’s obviously a reflection of what a joy you must have been to your parents, for them to do it all over again when they were so close to the end!</p>
<p>hmm
I was just thinking- I am finally at the point where I have realized that my husband who is " emotionally inaccessible" is never, ever, going to change, indeed I don’t think he could if he wanted to. ( you would think disappearing when the drs told him, they didn’t expect our oldest to survive surgery would have given me a clue) 
Since he is my starter husband, as well as my breeder husband- I at least killed two birds with one stone. Eventually I expect I will find my keeper husband… or not.</p>
<p>But I think having children that don’t have physical demands that need to be met- terribly liberating.
( and when they are sick- they at least can tell you what is wrong)</p>
<p>( but now you are that much closer to grandchildren?)</p>
<p>
More like a reflection of their insanity. :)</p>
<p>When I left for college my dad said that he had had kids in the house for 37 years straight. I guess the relative quiet was a little too much. They countered it with the loudest sixth grade girl on the face of the planet… OK, I admit it, I was probably just as apt to alternatively yell and squeal at that age as she is. ;)</p>