H took my son to buy me a gift

[25yearsmlc]

agree with the above...

but I also can feel her despair and loneliness and so I get why she wants to date.'

Then again Rysmom, you are already predicting things won't or can't work out with this nice guy b/c of the distance or b/c of your fears, etc

so won't that confirm your worst fears and set you back?

I guess I'm saying if you can handle it, then dating might be good for your ego

but so far it seems to be sort of a set up for failure

and then you get upset all over again. If it makes you feel better at least I could see that it was doing something positive

even if it wasn't perfect. But if you won't even feel better, then re-examine it.

Can you handle some fun companionship without pinning a bunch of hope and expectation on it?

If you can, then maybe it'll be good