When do you STOP being a mother?

My son is 18, graduated from high school, working during the day and going to school at night.  Now one would think, wow this all seems to be going great, but as many of you know, I have been a single parent for 18 years and he my only child. 

The question, "When do you STOP being a mother" is now the burning question in my son's mind.  I think 18 is a horrible age.  It is the age of yearning to be on your own as an adult and yet not quite ready to let go of the security and routine of home life. 

We made a bargain that he would live at home until he finished the first two years of college and obtained his Associate's degree.  Here we are barely through the first year, and he is chomping at the bit to get a place of his own.  Now I would say this was a timely reaction considering his age, however none of this was an issue until he met "Brooke," her boyfriend and their group of friends, of which he is now an intricate cog in their teen-recruitment workings.  They are filling his head with how young they were when they were out on their own and how they could all share expenses and blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, there goes college. 

How odd to me that instead of taking the often sage advice of our parents, who undoubtedly have many years of experience to draw from, teenagers generally feel that the advice of a friend or peer is the direction they should take because of course the 20-year-old is much smarter than their parents, who by some act of God have not only declined in calcium as they have aged, but in brain cells as well.  Most of us remembering feeling this way about our own parents.

Now that I am on the receiving end (and have been since the terrible teens ensued) of this barrage of attitude, and were my mother alive today, I would buy her a dozen roses and apologize profusely for ever having thought of her of anything less than the wise mentor she was.

Due to menopause and working far too much, I now find myself in a place in life where I have no one to talk to and no one to share with.  Now that my son is leaving, I feel that this will only deepen.  The good news is, there is always LIQUOR.   Anyone know where I can get a good deal on cats?