Reply #108: I don't think you should marry a "career" anything...

[Sammy Pepys]

Obviously, one mate has to have time for another...but with regards to the story I do have a personal anecdote that relates.

One gal I know through work (don't know her exact age but she's between 38 and 40) could probably be considered a "career woman" without the coldness and impersonality mentioned by the OP. She's very nice, very personable...but was also extremely driven for much of her life. She flew through her BA and two grad degrees by the time she was 26ish, immediately landed a very lucrative position (and continues to be a real go-getter) and a year after that got married to guy she had met in grad school. I don't know what the discussion had been about kids, but about 3 years into the marriage or so things got tense because he wanted them and she didn't at the time. They eventually divorced, with that (according to her) being the major factor, which was exacerbated by the furious work schedule she kept.

Well, she's now pushing 40..if not there already...and has decided that after all this, she wants a family badly. She's dated since her divorce, but has not had anything terribly long term that I've known about. She's not optimistic that she's ever going to be a mother, and when she talks about it you can tell she's majorly bummed out. She's said more than once she'd trade where she is now to start over in her mid-late 20s when she got married.