Parents-To Be or Not To Be

Ironically, in the last few weeks, this topic has comes across my radar from numerous different sources-how do people know if they want kids or not? How do we know parenthood is for us? I write this from the shoes of someone who not only DOES NOT like babies, but as a woman who never wanted to give birth AND sat on the "HMMMM-kids, no kids" fence post till my early 30's.
Often, when people talk about having babies, I hear a lot about "lifestyle changes", "desire for children", and "ticking clock". I can't argue with any of that, but from a personal stand-point, I don't agree with it either.
In my advanced years, I have decided there are no such things as lifestyle changes, simply because everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, changes our lives. That is the one thing about life-change is constant. New jobs, marriage, divorce, where we live, hobbies we try and discard, new friends and old friends, drugs or no drugs, and the list goes on. Granted, if we get a new job and move, if might feel like a new lifestyle, but I realize now that it isn't my lifestyle that has changed, but more about thinking if I am on the path I want to be on. Life is a one shot deal-am I walking the areas I want to walk or did I veer to much? Am I at the right career to give me satisfaction or will I regret it in 5 years? Am I living in a home I like, or is the area less than I dreamed of? Granted, I may be arguing over semantics-if I move my life may change. But I think of it as putting my life back to the course I wanted in the first place. (FYI-I am not moving-I like my home).
So when I think of kids, I never think of them as a lifestyle change. Duh-my life changed with them. Along with the changes my body gets as I age, my views as I learn new facts, my relationship with the people around me as they change too, etc. What it came down to for me, is what I wanted out of life. When I am 90, and looking back on myself, what will I wish I had done? Kids was one of them. I realized that I wanted to wake up, and see someone excited because Santa stopped. I wanted to take little people camping, watch some crappy cartoon for the hundredth time, and explain why we really shouldn't pick our nose in public. I wanted to be around children. There are a lot of ways to do this. I knew I could pick a career with kids, adopt kids (my first pick), or go the old-fashioned route of reproducing. Since I had to share the decision with my husband, adoption was out and reproducing was in, but that is truly NOT the only way to have children in our lives. Again, it comes down to what you want out of life. I know teachers who are around kids all day long, and have decided not to reproduce but obvously have devoted their life to children. I know scout leaders with no children of their own who picked a different career path but devoted their free time to children. It is not the same as being a parent, but don't tell me they didn't have an impact.
So that is what it boils down to-at the end of the day, what do you want? It isn't a an easy question, and usually not answered in 2 seconds or less. But it's impact is huge.