Being Parents...its such a bittersweet experience

I just realized how hard it is to be a parent! I mean now that I am old enough to think for myself, to do things by myself, etc I feel like we need our parents alot less at this age and actually sometimes prefer they stay out of our lives! When I thought about that...and after spending a weekend with my dad discussing his hardships, I realized oh my God! Parents are always just doomed from the start. They give everything up for their kids: money, time, careers, fun times, friends, etc and what do they get? Kids who depend on them for everything at first then all of a sudden want to be independent and on their own. Then what? The parents are left behind just like that! My dad has always been family oriented...his idea of a break or holiday is to stay with us. And now he has to work in a desert away from us and cannot leave because he has to put my brothers through college...and by the time he can come back to us we would all be working, wanting our own lives, maybe married, maybe abroad. So he'll come back dying for that family time and may not find it. And my mum, oh m god, studied for 7 years to be a doctor and then had to give that up to bring us up, and now that we are all grown up she feels she has no purpose anymore coz all her focus for 20 years was just us! Now what? Its such a sad cycle of life that I did not really realize till recently and it made me so want to work on keeping my parents close...I mean they earned that much at least! Being a parent is a very fulfilling experience and brings purpose to your life but it can end so sadly...making u feel lost after that purpose is gone, making you crave your children's attention after they grow up, making you sometimes feel you gave your all and may not get it back...Being a parent is the most selfless thing anyone can ever do...