LOVING MY EMPTY NEST

Catherine Gladwyn, 46, couldn’t wait for the life that awaited after her daughter left home

- VERONIQUE HAWKSWORTH

Cheerily filling my trolley with cutlery, plates and a frying pan, I ticked everything off my list. It was August 2017 and none of the items were for me, they were for my 18-year-old daughter Chloe, who was about to go to uni. She was excited to leave and finally get her independence – and I was excited to wave her off!

When Chloe found out that she had been accepted into Bristol Uni to study neuroscience, I was so happy for her. Not just because she was taking a huge step towards her future, but because I’d finally be getting the house to myself as an adult, after having her when I was only 21.

Since splitting from her dad 11 years earlier, we’d become the perfect double act and had a great mum-daughter relationship. Even when my partner moved in, in 2014, we remained close.

But things weren’t always easy, and I found myself dreaming of days without an argument over making her walk home from the bus stop, or having to wait what felt like hours for her to get out of the shower.

SAYING GOODBYE