Got back from my trip this evening. W asked if I wanted to meet her and the kids at a baseball game she was taking them to. I said okay. She had arranged for another family to go too, a family that we socialized with together before all this happened, but that she got in the split. I've seen them here and there, but I hadn't socialized with them since W moved out. This is her first attempt at re-introducing me into her social world. We had a great time at the baseball game. We transitioned kids in the parking lot and I just got home with them and put them to bed.

Since other family was at the baseball game with us, W and I could leave our kids for a few minutes to go get concessions. We were flirting a bit, and I looked into her eyes a couple times. She said "It's killing you, isn't it?" I said "What?" She said "You so want to kiss me." I feigned indifference and said "Nope, not getting that from me. You'll have to kiss me if that's what you want." She playfully said "Oh no, not me." I just smiled and walked on. When we stopped for some napkins she grabbed me and kissed me, pretty intensely for being in the middle of a big crowd.

Us hiding our affection from the kids is becoming a fun game. We try to steal little moments together like that. The kids obviously see we're being very friendly, but we hide most of what we're doing, for now. Some of my friends are somewhat judgemental, saying "You shouldn't be doing that in front of the kids, it'll just get their hopes up." My argument back is "Is it really that bad that our kids see us trying? Is it better if all they remember is one day Mommy moved out, and that was it? Seems to me that would leave them with a terrible kernel of insecurity to bring into their M someday." I don't buy this modern idea that when two parents split up, they should NEVER EVER let the kids see them acting "romantic", because it will give the kids "false hope". Well, I know this isn't "false hope", it's "real hope". Is it guaranteed? No, but we're trying. Even if it doesn't work, the kids could at least remember that we tried for a LONG time.