Not Having Kids is the Road Not Taken

The 

Road 

Not 

Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

There aren't enough messages in the world that say it's okay to not have kids, so I'm saying that it's okay to not have kids, because:

• Having kids isn't for everyone
• Not everyone can have kids
• Having kids doesn't always make people happy
• Not all kids are happy with their parents
• Not all parents are happy with their kids

It's not that having kids is right and not having kids is wrong.

It's that there is more than one way to live life and the path for one is not the path for all.

It's okay to not have kids and I'm okay with not having kids. 

If people aren't okay with me not having kids, that is their hang-up, not mine.

* * * * *

PS -- Even though I never wanted kids, I did experience an unplanned, unmarried late-30s pregnancy; abortion never entered my mind no matter how unexpected and surprising the situation was; while it ended in a miscarriage that has always made me wonder if it was my fault, the good that came out of it is a better understanding of life inside a body.

I don't promote the idea of not having kids as if to say electing to abort the development of human life is a solution and I don't want it to be interpreted that way. 

Good for the people who want kids, good for the people who have kids and make the best of a surprise situation, and good for the people who take a road not taken!