Decisions, Decisions

In almost 2 months I will be 30 years old (not that I'm counting). I am in no way dreading this, in fact I am pretty pumped about it. I like where my life is and even better I like where it is heading.

The Beef and I are gearing up to become homeowners which is an experience that I find equally parts exciting and terrifying. 

After that our friends, family and society clearly expect us to follow this life path:

 

                                  ^ House

Heck, I can't deny that that's the way I thought things would go.

But you know what? I'm not sold on it.

If you know me personally your head just might have exploded and for that I apologize.

I'm at the point in my life where most of my friends now have children and I absolutely love and adore those little ones. As a result it has been very easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all and participate in conversations about our future spawn.

It's always remained such an abstract concept to me though and when I finally decided to sit down and actually give it some real logical thought I was more than a little shocked to discover that I did not currently find the thought of procreating appealing one bit.

My first thought was that maybe I was just having a bad day, maybe my hormones were out of whack. I found myself in a daze of confusion and decided to sit on it for a little while.

As time went by I found that my feelings on the subject seemed to be genuine. I found this a bit startling as I don't really know anyone who has vocalized that this is their chosen path. To me it seemed like the great unknown. So I started to do some research and oh my, I was surprised to find that the concept of a child-free life is apparently a hot button topic. There are people weighing in on both sides of the argument and they appear to be just as focused and forceful as you would find in an abortion or gay marriage debate. Why choices like this are anyone else business I will never understand. Though it struck me as odd that both sides of the argument seemed to prefer the use of the term "selfish" to describe the opposing party.

It was interesting to see so many other takes on an idea that I hadn't even thought to discuss out loud yet and it really gave me a lot to think about. Suddenly, something that I thought about, albeit in an abstract way, that seemed somehow inevitable is now a path I don't have to take at all if that is what I decide. 

I can't say with any certainty that it's something we will end up choosing but for now it is certainly a topic for discussion and I find a certain measure of comfort and a distinct lack of pressure knowing that "yes or no" is a real option.