Annie-Theresa MacDonald

Me with a baby: didn't sleep last night because little feet padded into my room at 3am.

Me without children: slept well, despite the sadness that sometimes sits beside me in the dark.

Me with a baby: spent the morning packing lunches and finding lost shoes.

Me without children: spent the early morning running to help the anxiety that now sits with me after traumatic failed rounds of IVF.

Me with a baby: plans revolve around school holidays.

Me without children: books a trip of a lifetime on a wellness retreat to the French Alps.

Me with a baby: knows the words to every nursery rhyme.

Me without children: knows herself in ways she never expected to.

Me with a baby: has a life I once imagined.

Me without children: has a life I never planned, but one that still contains beauty, freedom, friendship, adventure, and love.

World Childless Week is often about what we've lost. Today, I also want to acknowledge what remains, what has grown, and what is possible.

This isn't the life I would have chosen.

But it is my life.

And there are still things I can do, places I can go, and joys I can claim because I do not have children. I still matter. My life still matters.