How to Stay Close as a Family Over Time

Once upon a time, long, long ago, all of our children, my husband and I lived under the same, familiar roof. As we knew they must (and leaving me with conflicted feelings of sadness for myself and excitement for my children), they have begun to forge their own adult paths, one leaping off the branch enthusiastically, another requiring a bit of a nudge, and a third still in high school but clearly exerting ever-increasing degrees of autonomy.

While I recognize this progression toward independ...