In reply to afshapes:
Hmmm but 50yrs from now, you probably won't still be climbing. You WILL probably want a nice house to live in (not expensive, just nice) and company of someone you love.
I used to climb a lot, and circumstances meant I don't now. By circumstances, I mean starting a new job that meant shifts and limited weekends, and then the weekends I DO have, I want to do stuff with J. J was always my climbing partner before anything else, but prefers mountaineering, so we tend to have weekends away hillwalking and scrambling. Can't remember the last time I led any route even close to my once top grade.
However, the upsides are that we have a happy marriage, a nice house in a nice place, and we DO have shared interests - mountaineering and travel. J isn't inspired by general rock climbing, but can easily be tempted by travel all over the world, by easy winter routes, and by mountains in general. Due to this, we're planning an Andes expedition next year, something that I wouldn't have had a partner/money for when I climbed regularly and was pushing grades.
So, I've moved from climber to traveller/mountaineer, with a husband who is happy to be by my side throughout.
If you don't have ANYTHING in common with your wife/partner, then you may want to rethink things. Otherwise it's not so bad if compromise means sharing other passionss together!