[The feelings that arise when the last child leaves home can affect each individual parent, a couple's marriage, and how the parents interact with the child who has recently left home, Burns says. How parents react can vary dramatically.] Some experience joy, fulfillment, and relief, ... They may see a new world of opportunity opening up before them. They are now free to focus on their own needs. They are free to do things they may not have been able to do for the past 18 years. Other parents will feel loneliness and anxiety - the pain of loss and the anxiety of letting go. They may find themselves asking: 'My work is done. Now what?' Or, 'What is my purpose in life?' Bill Burns