It’s really tough but when you get the hint you have to back off. Not easily done but in time it will balance back as long as too many demands aren’t made. Bear in mind you’ve made a lot of others mothers (including myself) feel assured it’s not just them it’s a common and sometimes necessary experience.
I think with males who had a close bond with their mother the need and expression of separateness is vital for their development as an individual and it is one of the mother’s tasks to bear with that.
When he feels secure in his own skin he’ll come back to honour you.
I have a couple of friends who have very close relationships with their sons in their forties ... it seems emotionally displaced. As the famous psychoanalyst Helene Deutsch said this rejection by the adult child is ‘the tragic destiny of motherhood’ (she suggested the only remedy was to have about ten children... so less time to grieve!) but the true art is letting go and trusting them. And hope for the best.
apple trees not flowering this year. Anyone else?