When my oldest niece was a toddler, she was out in the garage with her mom who was trying to get rid of some bugs. She said she hated ants, and my niece got really sad. “You hate Aunt Sweet?” Her mom laughed and explained that there were two types of ants/aunts.

I was single for most of my life, getting married in my mid 30s. There were times when I really wanted a partner and times when it didn’t matter so much. When I was happy in my job and had a good social life, I looked at having a partner as sprinkles on a delicious sundae. It might make it better, but I was perfectly fine without it. Once I was married, we had the same perspective about kids. It would be nice, but our happiness was not dependent on it.