Thanks Puppy. I'm not nearly as confident as these posts sound. I had moments of hesitation and insecurity that night too, but I think I did a decent job of leading. At one point she said "H, one thing I'm sure of now is no matter what happens, I know we'll be great friends." More cake eating crap. I had to pick my battles that night, so I didn't contest it, but I didn't validate it either. I know she was fishing for validation to lower her anxiety, but I didn't give it. Another time, in a particular moment of lunacy, she said "It would be so great if we could buy houses next to each other. The kids have been enjoying this so much." Again, I said nothing in response. Totally ridiculous.
She sent me an e-mail the next day thanking me again for the date. When I saw her later that day she said "Do you think we'll ever be able to go out and just have fun?" I said "Sure, if that's what we want, we'll put all the hard stuff off limits for a night." She smiled and said "Don't get me wrong, the night was great, but it gets exhausting talking about that stuff." I said "Yeah, it does."
