Dear Cary,
I was violently thrust into the dating inferno after my divorce nearly six years ago. During that time I've run the gamut of interactions: everything from being played like a plastic Flutophone to having a couple of semi-rewarding, longish-term relationships to enjoying a few purely physical hookups.
During my period of self-actualization I've done the following:
According to the post-divorce survival guide, I've done everything correctly, yet I still can't figure out why I'm approaching 38 and single. I have no problem getting dates, but finding someone who will, well, stick in this city has been problematic.
So, here's my question. Lately I've found that the wonderful men who have been wanting to date me don't want children. Either they've had their chickens or their need to create is sublimated by their artistic passions. I am still passionate about having kids. So, Cary, do I need to grow up and accept the fact that having kids may not be in the cards for me and allow myself to yield to these men who woo? Does it make sense to get attached to someone who isn't on the same page? At what age does a woman throw in the towel? I've entertained having my own child, but lack of money and familial support make this a nearly impossible option.
Still Holding the Towel
Dear Still Holding the Towel,
If having children is truly, absolutely, positively, without a doubt the one thing you most want to do above all other things, then you will have to make some major life choices, and quickly.
So please ask yourself how badly you want to have children. It isn't enough to say you want it really, really badly. The question is, what are you willing to give up? Do you want it badly enough to give up living where you live and working where you work? Do you want it badly enough to compromise on the kind of man you raise those children with?
Or do you want to continue living in the city you love, working the job you have learned to appreciate, but just add a fabulous husband and a child or two -- and perhaps a larger residence to accommodate the extra people?
If you're willing to make significant sacrifices, and you start immediately, perhaps you can find a man, and a new home, and a new job, and get pregnant and raise some children.
But if you want to keep what you have and simply add some beautiful kids and a great husband, I would say the chances of getting all that are considerably slimmer.
So which is better? The fabulous life you have now, or the life you might have if you sacrificed what you have for what you want? It's a matter of great unknowns and probabilities.
The situation is made more acute, of course, by your age. You are already well past prime childbearing age. You're 38.
It's not as though you've wasted these years. You've had a fabulous time. You could not have had this fabulous time if you'd been raising kids. Nevertheless, inexorable time has crept up, lessening your chances of conceiving.
We make choices.
So these are the two choices as I see them: 1) Devote everything you have to your one goal of getting married and having kids, which means being willing to compromise on everything else -- job, city, man. Or 2) Devote substantially more energy than you already are devoting to the problem, but retain those elements of your life that you already know make you happy. That way, you may win the lottery and get everything you want, but if not, you have not given up so much.
My conservative bet would be on No. 2. Because even if you gave up everything you love to pursue the goal of getting married and having kids, there's a reasonable chance that you would rush into something with the wrong man in the wrong town and the wrong job, and you'd be miserable, and you would have given up what you had. So the potential downside is considerably steeper; also, you might find that having children does not make you as happy as you thought it would.
So I suggest you stay in the city but narrow your dating, focus it only on men who want to get married and have kids. Put 100 percent of your effort behind that. Weed out the rest.
You may very well find a great man and get married and get pregnant and have some wonderful healthy kids and live happily ever after. Or you might adopt some kids. Or you might fall in love with a man who already has some kids. Or you might just enjoy your life as it is.
Believe me, not having kids is not the end of the world. For some people, in fact, it's more like the beginning.
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