Ding ding ding. We have a winner.
Mrs. Storm Orphan and I may decide to have kids, we may not.
Right now we're quite happy without, but some of our procreating associates display the strangest
sense of bitterness that we haven't bred yet.
Maybe misery loves company.
Don't be so hard on them. Parenting isn't for everyone. But once you've willingly taken it on it is - by necessity - all consuming for quite some time. What you're getting may feel like bitterness to you, but your "associates" are doing what people have been doing throughout the ages - they're nesting. The place they used to make for you in their lives is now filled up with something else - it's quite an adjustment. The absolute last thing any new parent will be is jealous or resentful of single or childless people (OK, except for the sleeping part).
And go easy on the smugness. I hope you are blessed with healthy children when you're ready and willing. There are no guarantees. The hell that is infertility problems will be as big a strain on a marriage as a serious illness or financial ruin.
There should be many, many more out there like you who take that decision as seriously as is warranted. It is by far and away the most serious decision anyone could make in their life. Don't pay any attention to the bitterness you see directed at you. Some of it may be imagined on your part but I am certain that some of it isn't. You do not want to end up bitter. Make sure you know for sure.
No bitterness here from this Libertarian.
You shouldn't put off having children if you have any wish to ever do so. Being middle aged with pre (or even post) adolescent children is not something to be contemplated with equanimity. Women after forty bearing children run a higher risk of having children with birth defects.