I am 54 and still need my mother, who will be 80 this year. I, and my children, I need her in ways I feel guilty about as well, as I have blown up my professional life, both on purpose and not, without any savings, and now seek to rebuild myself. I didn't set out to share that in this comment, but it flowed. I set out to share this line from a story by Libby: "My feeling of rejection most recently reared its ugly head when my youngest child got his driver's license and I falsely perceived and feared him no longer needing me. I had looked forward to the freedom from being his captive driver so my strange emotional reaction and subconscious feeling caught me by blindsided surprise. This was clearly not a matter of him not needing me because no matter how old children are they always need their moms — at least I know I still need mine!" https://medium.com/illumination/time-to-slay-the-inner-demons-ce9e50751a1f