#Undertow. It’s perfectly reasonable to not want children. What’s weird is how personally some people take that decision when it literally has nothing to do with them. I got lectured about it earlier today by an aunt I didn’t even know existed until recently. We were at a family gathering, somehow the conversation got around to marriage and children, and I casually said I don’t have kids and don’t plan on having any. She immediately went “you’ll change your mind” like I had just announced some sort of temporary medical condition.

Then came the whole speech about how I’d regret it when I’m older, how children are “the greatest blessing”, how I’d understand once I became a parent, and somehow she even managed to bring up the fact that I’d be “denying” my future husband something. Ma’am, I’m just sitting here eating cake. Why are we discussing the hypothetical reproductive choices of a woman you met for the first time today?

And what gets me is that I wasn’t even asking for anyone’s opinion. I’m not telling other people not to have children. Have ten if you want. I genuinely don’t care. I just don’t want them myself. Why is that somehow an invitation for a committee meeting?