From my personal vantage point, I think it would be very hard to accept getting older if I didn't have wife + kids.

I have lots of sympathy for people who decided to live "non traditional lifestyles" and now wake up at 42 and see that it was unsustainable and there are no do-overs. Often (like the now-bi recently tattooed girl in the story) they double down on "non traditional" but it generally doesn't work out as well at mid 40s as it did mid 20s....

I think spouse + kids provides a tremendous amount of "built-in" direction to your life that helps you guide yourself thru the rough spots.