My husband and I don't want children. We're both too selfish with our time together.
•
I have an open mind as I like children but am not pushed either way.
Marriage would be more to give my partner and I equal rights in case one of us died. I am open on that too.
•
The people in our close-knit family are the ones listed on our Living Trust, and the list doesn't include our siblings. We don't want children. We don't like the idea of adoption for ourselves.
•
At 70 I'm preparing to adopt a son who's 32. Why? Well, over time, he found he needed a father and I found I needed a son. Nothing sexual here, just finding how great it is to have someone come in and tell me about their day and want to know what I did. Obviously, given my age, we're not out on the lawn playing catch or two man tag football but he can accept the fact that our love of each other transcends the rather mundane concepts of what a father and son should be. I'm preparing him to go to university and he's preparing me to notice the contemporary culture as opposed to being trapped as an aging Edwardian. Some times at night I pass his room and see his face and realize, the smartest thing both of us did was to wait until we had father/son bonding down to a few simple ideas and concepts. I love the fact that he's already had a helluva life that included being knocked around by "step" fathers, forced to live in the streets for brief periods of time and he knows for all the glitter around me, my back was broken and I was permanently lamed by a father who did not love me. It may not sound like it, but it puts us on the same plane.
•
To me family doesn't always have to be the standard two parents and a baby. To me family is more than shared blood. To me a family is made up of people who raise, help, support and maybe occasionally grind your gears. I consider my friends like my brothers or sisters and even my pets as a part of family. I hope someday to have a guy I can marry and just see what goes from there.
•