It's what my mother told me when I was obtaining an abortion at 19 which she believed could make me sterile. It was also in a letter my mother sent me when I was 31 and about to have my tubes tied, knowing motherhood was not for me. I kept that letter for 29 years. I am now 60 and I can say with certainty that I do not regret it.

Upon finding that letter again I called my mother to remind her of what she wrote. Since she wrote it, she has watched me live my life vibrantly without children, and came to understand that while her happiness came from motherhood, that was not the path I was destined to take. She hasn't always approved of my life choices, she doesn't understand why I reject monogamy, why I date women as well as men, why I became an activist, or why I still date at 60 for example. But she knows I am happy. She found it funny that she made that prediction, and we laughed about how wrong she was.

My life is wonderful. I have been so many places, loved so many people, had so many experiences, and I would not have done half the things I did if I had settled down with a nice man and had two-to-three children in a nice house in the suburbs. For you younger folks who've heard "you'll regret it when you're older" enough times to make you doubt yourself, remember that this old lady has been hearing "you'll regret it" since 1979, and still doesn't regret it in 2020.

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Childfree - reddit