Childfree By Choice

So we're outside on Saturday night, just hanging out with our neighbors. All the kids are out playing and running out their energy before bedtime. Another neighbor, that has no children, comes home and we all say hi. She and I are exchanging small talk and I bring up something about Ben being so loud, he might as well live in her house. (something like that, just totally lighthearted, we usually are just small-talky, neighborly, jokey). She says to me, "you must have done something really terrible in your past life to have gotten that one." I was so floored by this statement. All I could say was, what? Then she goes on about how cute he is. A day later, I really want to tell her that she must have done something rotten in her past life to have ended up being a conservative cat lady this time around. It just reminds me of this post I read on dooce.com. She found out about this whole counter-culture called "Childfree by Choice." If people decide not to have kids, I totally respect that. I get it. It's not for everyone. If you don't want kids, please, by all means, do not have any! But you can't expect to live your entire life without encountering any! I'm not going to keep my kids inside or strictly on playgrounds for their entire lives. We don't take our kids to fancy restaurants or adult movies, but we don't restrict ourselves to parks and play-lands either.

I guess I'm just mad that my neighbors have acted like everything was hunky dory when they don't feel that way. I hate being lied to.