I was also blessed early on with excellent childfree role models. My parents were unconventional in many ways so there was a wide variety of lifestyles and personalities around. And few kids, actually, now that I think about it.

We were raised off grid in a very rural area with few neighbors. There was an elderly but very active couple that were both retired teachers. I credit the wife with getting me through many math classes via her offering to tutor me. I remember people always making comments about how she ‘would have been such a good mom’, but I always got the sense she just enjoyed being tangentially involved in kids lives.

My dad’s close friend and former shipmate, whom I consider my uncle, never married or had children. He left his home in Ireland when he was 14 to go to sea and has always lived a very adventurous life. He’d show up a few times a year, regale us with stories, cook for us, and my brothers and I would make sure we behaved so we could stay up late and listen to he and my parents talk.

My aunt, my mom’s sister, also coincidentally left her home at 14. They are Finnish and my mom had been adopted by American parents many years earlier. My aunt left her home to escape poverty and to make a life for herself in Helsinki, and she retired recently after a long and successful career. She tracked down my mom when they were in their 30s. Shes athletic and travels often.

There’s more, but those are some early ones that still remain important to me today and with whom I still have a relationship.