My kids were each 18 when they moved out and started college. They both returned for summers, graduated after 4 years, found work and moved on for good. Both are independent and self-supporting, and sadly each lives in a state far from me. I took a similar path, haven't lived with my parents since the summer before my senior year of college save for three weeks when I broke my pelvis and needed a place to convalesce.
My wife, OTOH, went to college within 10 miles of her parent's home, wound up living back at home through a couple of false starts at careers and a master's degree. She stayed at home to help nurse her mother as cancer claimed her, then stayed on with her father through inertia. He remarried and moved out leaving her in the family home he still owned. When we married, we wound up buying the house from him. She has lived here for over 40 years.
There are lots of potential paths through life, and no one right one.
Bill
My wife, OTOH, went to college within 10 miles of her parent's home, wound up living back at home through a couple of false starts at careers and a master's degree. She stayed at home to help nurse her mother as cancer claimed her, then stayed on with her father through inertia. He remarried and moved out leaving her in the family home he still owned. When we married, we wound up buying the house from him. She has lived here for over 40 years.
There are lots of potential paths through life, and no one right one.
Bill