The Not Having Kids Option
Dramatic reenactment of a conversation that took place between me and Rachel:
R: I just had the most liberating thought of my life.
M: What?
R: Okay, hear me out.
M: Okay.
R: I thought to myself, what if I just don’t have kids? I mean, I know it’s like a given that we’re all supposed to have kids, but what if we don’t?
M: [Pause] Then we … get our lives back.
R: Exactly. Think about it. We’d be out of this ridiculous time crunch. We could just date whoever we want and not have to worry about if he was the one, and we could focus on our careers without a time limit and just chill out.
M: Agreed. But who’s gonna take care of us when we get old?
R: It’s not like your kids take care of you when you get old. None of our grandparents lived with us. When you’re old you’re basically on your own. You see your kids on holidays maybe and your spouse dies before you and you basically spend the end of your life alone.
M: So we’d be screwed even if we did have kids.
R: Right.
M: So there’s really no reason to have kids.
R: Exactly.
M: Tell me about it again.
