Interesting thread.
I'm in my mid 40's and never been married and have no kids. (Truth be told, I was always interested in having kids, but the timing was never right. When I was with a woman who wanted kids, that little voice in my head said, "don't do it, you'll regret it" (And the voice was correct.) On another occassion, I was with a woman that I cared very much about and would have wanted to have kids, but she was unable.) Now, it's closing in on "too late".
I have had long term relationships, lived with one for 5 years (was with her for a total of 7 or so) and lived with one other for a shorter period. In fact, I've pretty much always had a girlfriend all of the time since I was 19. Yeah, there are periods when I have been single, but they are relatively brief. Yeah, I've hobbied when I was attached and when I was single, though when I've been in a happy relationship, it pretty much drops to 0. And yes, I've cheated with civilians as well. It's a long story.
Am I lonely?
Seldomly.
I have a wide circle of friends and half of them are single, or if they are attached, they are not inprisoned in the marriage.
I don't really like the concept of marriage for one reason - it's too hard and too expensive to get out of. We've all seen guys reduced to eating alpo out of a can living in a basement apartment in Parkdale where you constantly have to duck to avoid banging your head. At my age, the thought of getting wiped out financially is not very appealing. I would prefer to simply live in sin with a woman who I cared about. If they reformed the divorce laws in Canada, I would be more agreeable with the idea of getting married because I know that most marriages either end, or should end.
If I look at my married friends, many have gotten divorced, some are in completely miserable relationships and should get divorced, but for economic reasons usually, they stay together. In fact, when I look at it, I don't know a single couple that I would say is truly happy. Not one.
My sister is in a marriage where it is completely miserable. He's a good guy and all, but it's come to the point where he has a hair-line trigger on his temper. The littlest thing sends him orbital My sister would love to leave. I have encouraged her to leave in fact. She's scared to. Her marriage is like most that I see. Miserable and stuck. She said something to me the other day, she said, "If I ever get divorced, I will never get married again"
I love my freedom, I do what I want when I want. I have my own house, cars, work, girlfriends and a couple of pets to keep my company that offer more loyalty than any human ever would. So yeah, I"m quite happy with my life the way it is.