Watched my aunt pump out children as often as her uterus would allow it. She had six children that survived, maybe three or four miscarriages. She was not a woman who had pleasant pregnancies and was miserable pretty much my entire childhood and teenage years, carrying one fetus after another.

After watching that poor woman suffer so much, I decided I never wanted children.

My model for life was my great aunt who never married and had a professional career as a college professor. She enjoyed life, traveled all over, had lots of hobbies, and was always happy - unlike the aunt who was always sick, miserable, and who tried to make everyone around her as unhappy as she was.

Unlike my great aunt I did marry but we made the choice to not have children. I love my family and most of my nieces and nephews - and now my great nephews - but a few minutes a year of being around children is more than enough for me.