life after kids

we still have our sons, we did not give them up for adoption or anything, but i finally was able to cut the umbilical cord. i have been saying for years, i will leave them home alone only when big boy is 18 so he will be an adult and can be responsible for his little brother. but this year i was so gung ho on going to our house in the mountains for a night, and the boys do not want to come along, and hubby dear is not happy to be there always by himself, that i started questioning my vision of how to take care of my sons. and i said to myself 'at 15 years of age, you would be home alone for two weeks in a row. get a life girl and see if they can take care of themselves a bit. you have tought them everything they need to know!'. so i left the boys alone with three friends one night, and hubby and i had a great time at the village feast of niva. and i was hooked;). since everything had worked out so well the first time, little boy had asked me if he could have another sleepover with some friends before the end of summervacation. so that was last night. ofcourse i threathened with grounding if the house would be a mess on our arrival, things would be broke, ecc. i knew there would be more than the four friends announced, but the other ones left at a reasonable hour. they did a great job at getting everything in order. last night sitting there on our porch, with a great view of mountain tops, i was thinking 'now our lives after kids starts'. if children leave the home, it must be not easy to find a balance in the relationship again. i think that hubby dear buying that old house, did one of the best things ever. instead of not knowing what to do together, we bond to create something that is ours again. we did the family, we did the  all year round house, and now we start a new life up there at 1200 meter. we work side by side, we meet new people, and we are very happy also just to sit there with a glass of wine and enjoy our surroundings. it does not mean that i will leave my two boys alone every weekend, but once in a while i will give myself the privilege to do what i enjoy very much.