1. “The difference between peaceful quiet and sad, lonely quiet.”

– factchecker8515

2. “How much my kids truly like and love me. They keep in contact all the time and find any excuse to come over and hang out with me. I figured they would just go on their own lives and leave me behind. Guess I did a good job.”

– crackhappy

3. “How much cleaner and tidier the house became.”

– surfdad64

4. “How similar it feels to starting your life over after a breakup or graduating from college.”

– Anonymous

5. “How much I’d miss them. They’ve grown into mindful, independent, kind, loving adults who can afford their own therapy.”

– awell8

6. “To answer on my parents’ behalf: how much the two of them had grown apart.”

– x_aceofspades

7. “That their rooms still get dusty and the walls that keep closing in.”

– depressedNCdad

8. “All the stuff he had. I don’t know where he got thousands of dollars worth of cameras, tablets, laptops, and other expensive things.

He never had a traditional employer. When we saw all the stuff, we thought he got into drugs or stealing or something.”

– useragent_

9. “How seldom he initiates communication with us. I’d thought he’d have a lot more questions about things, but I guess he learned how to live his life on his own.”

– 107197

10. “The moment our son moved out to live on his own he became vegetarian. He never gave us any indication he was planning to or wanted to be a vegetarian.”

– LaoBa

11. “How quickly they pick things up. I don’t mean that literally. I think, I thought my daughter would be a potato for much longer than she was.”

– Darkcrow89

12. “How they can sleep so many hours but yet keep you from sleeping.”

– Gametime743

13. “I’ve learned you save the most for retirement after the kids move out.”

– Gold_Champagne

14. “How quickly they moved back in.”

– DeepRoot

15. “How much they ate and how much electricity they used. Those things built gradually over time so I never really noticed as it happened.”

–  friedpickleguy

Be right back, going to give my parents a hug.