The Unique Isolation of the Childless by Choice

I chose this certain kind of freedom. I never consciously chose the tradeoff of categorical exclusion from conversations, gatherings and entire friend circles.

We’d been riding our mountain bikes and chatting for a solid half-hour when my friend casually said: “Oh yeah, I’m pregnant.”

She said it the same way one might say: “I stopped by the grocery store” – although this was, in fact, a conversational hand grenade. My stomach dropped. No, I thought.

A sudden sense of loss washed over me. I’ve maintained, as bes…