I'm an only child who was raised by my grandmother. My childhood was lonely, but I'm still choosing to be child-free.

• I'm grateful to my grandmother for raising me, but my childhood was lonely. 
• I thought I'd embrace being alone as an adult, but instead, I've filled my life with love.
• My wife and I have chosen to be child-free. We're intentional about connections with chosen family.

I´m in my 30s, but I joke that I´ve been a grandma since birth. I'm an only child, and my grandmother raised me while my parents were out of the picture. I grew up in a sleepy town built around fishermen and summer tourists. My grandmother's house was on a peninsula, a seven-mile stretch of the Atlantic on the south shore of Massachusetts.