babies having babies

Today, instead of posting about my life at the renaissance festival, (I drive to the library every day, I eat salads and grilled cheeses almost exclusively, I'm bored with everyone every day but Sunday nights) I am going to write a rant!

At my age, it's not unusual to have many friends who have children.  Some of them even have multiple children by now.  I don't think any of my friends with kids are bad parents, at all, but something that I saw while lurking facebook really disturbed me.  A girl I went to high school with who just had her 3rd child (what's the rush, people!  what happened to enjoying your twenties??)  posted one of those corny image macro things, which said:

"without my children,
my house would be clean,
my wallet would be full,
but my heart would be empty."

Of course all the other mommies liked it, including ANOTHER girl I went to high school with who has 3 children and is engaged to be married a second time (we're all only 27.)  I really don't care if you want to have a ton of kids, but it makes me really sad to read something like that.  It implies that those of us who have chosen not to start having kids right out of high school, or, you know, have chosen to use birth control, are EMPTY in our HEARTS because we don't have children.  The way I've always seen it is that having children doesn't make you more complete, it breaks pieces of you off and then sends them out into a cruel world to ignore all your good advice, make you constantly worried, and constantly ask you for money.  Of course that's the ultimate worst part of having kids, and I know that there are joys every day of watching someone learn the world again for the first time blah blah etc.  It just bothers me when people make their WHOLE lives about their kids and leave no part for themselves.
My parents definitely had their own lives outside of me, which I don't remember ever feeling resentful about as a child, because they still had plenty of time for me.  Of course, I'm an only child, but if I had a sibling I don't think it would've been any different.  I think they were complete in themselves before they had me and I think they are complete in themselves and as a unit together now that I'm grown and sort of flown the nest.
And I feel like I'm complete in myself now, as a single, never-been-married, childless, approaching 30 (god) woman.  I don't feel the need to have kids to complete myself, and while I'd like a partner in crime to spend my days and nights with, I'm not OBSESSED with the idea of finding him.  It's fun to be able to go where I want, travel the country, sleep all day, eat when I'm hungry, flirt with boys, drink all night if I want, do the occasional drug that comes my way, etc.  I SHOULD be doing this, because I'm still young.
Not that there are parents that I know who are all about their kids.  Most of my closer friends who have kids still go out from time to time, and their job isn't "being a parent."  They're all happy family units without spending every day posting obsessive pics of their children.  I think the most telling sign of losing yourself to your children is having a picture of your child as YOUR profile picture on facebook. How sad is that?  I, for one, think it's really sad.

In conclusion, my heart is empty for a lot of reasons, but being childless is NOT one of them.

There was my rant on people with kids, I hope you liked it.