My wife and I have been married over 24 years...and yes we do not have children either. There were a number of reasons but when it got right down to it we simply did not have a desire to have children. And we thought that important -- for the children, they are a huge investment in time and energy and we were both children of much older parents, who didn't have that much time or energy left.
We don't make it a cause celebre or advocate our choices for anyone else - it's probably the wrong choice for most people, because most people, I suspect, really want children. And we don't apologize for our decisions either. It just worked for us. That's it.
Thanks.... both times you said it... I wasn't really asking you to explain yourselves, just thinking maybe you thought like ecurbh and me, with your own reasons :~D
I came from a dysfunctional family -- my father was a monster and my mother was an enabler -- and I left home at the earliest possibility and never looked back. After my father’s death, I found out about the family secret: A particularly vicious form of inherited manic depression that led to a suicide (and other scandals) in the family that nobody wanted to talk about. But my sister and I should have been told when we reached adulthood.
My sister married a good man (pure luck!) and trashed her marriage when bipolar disorder hit at age 30. (The womenfolk in the family all manifest at that age.) Her adult son is an intellectual and emotional basket case, and her adult daughter ran for dear life to get away from her mother at the first possible occasion. (Wait until she hits 30!)
I never married, made a total mess of every relationship and finally had myself sterilized to make sure the family curse stopped with me.
I don't look down on those who reproduce. But I do look down on those who look down on those who don't reproduce. There is a thing called Responsibility, and I respect those who honor it.
Some people just shouldn't have children.