Definitely agree with you on the Hepburn quote. I have a lot of friends who want nothing more than to surround themselves with children; lots of them went into education and can't wait to have their own kids. All my life when I envisioned my perfect future, kids were never in the picture. It was always just me, sometimes a power spouse, and a huge office, sometimes of the Oval variety. I've always been the kind of person to maximize all of my options at all times and having kids is a serious limitation to that.

I also don't even remotely feel maternal instincts?? I worked as a religious school teacher and a camp counselor (cuz those both paid somewhat better than min wage) and I just felt nothing protective towards the kids I taught. One of them slammed a finger in the door frame and came to me wailing and I just put a bandaid on her finger and told her to go play... :/ I feel a lot of affection and maternal instinct towards teens and women my own age though. I just don't get children (although they love me and I think that's probably because I treat them like little adults and not like idiot puppies).