This issue stabs at my very heart. I haven’t lived so full a life that I feel very confident in giving other people advice, but I can’t help thinking that what you’re feeling is part of the natural order of things. As a person who has failed to develop and move on, and has clung to my aged mother for all of my life, I can tell you that it does not result in a very strong or whole person, and now that her health and life are failing, I feel lost, alone, and weak. It’s my hope that you can do what I say and not what I do, and assert your independence. Express love and appreciation for any and all the things they might have done for you, for some day you may be very glad that you took the trouble to do so. Also, just consider that they’ve been around longer and may occasionally have a valid point to make. But by all means, I think they should be encouraged to loosen their grip.........lovingly and in good faith, if at all possible.