I knew early that I didn’t want children, because I had other plans for my life. I’ve had occasional pangs of regret, but mostly I’m at peace with it. It became easier when my brother and his wife had a daughter, and then a second. I imagined I could contribute some wisdom to them, once they were speaking coherent sentences. Then last year my brother, whom I had always been close to, abruptly stopped speaking to me and cut me out of his life. Now those pangs of regret are a little deeper. Ugh.