Ganb8te 2 - WAH - lost in translation

[gan]

Well, I'm back from the talk on the hill. Nothing too interesting to report. Just showed off my PMA and caught up with what each other was up to. I rattled off a few things I've been up to outside of work and learned he's taking an art class (so am I). He said he was glad I got my promotion and acknowledged how hard I worked for it. I thanked him for his support along the way. He again said things are busy and stressful at work and added that morale is down because the company isn't doing well relative to their targets. He asked about a few practical things - like had I turned off the electricity at the old place (er…yes, H I took care of it). I reckon I saw him checking me out a couple of times. No R talk. He said it was nice to see me but he does't really have much to say. I sensed things were ending so said I was going to go before he had the chance to.

So a few milestones today:
1. H agreed to meet up for a spontaneous chat on a weekend. He's declined these invites the couple of times I've extended them since we separated - said he was busy but didn't offer an alternative date. I threw in a teaser this time ("I have some news") so perhaps that piqued his curiosity.
2. Made it through a whole interaction without R coming up. Previously he has brought it up when the conversation stalls. I think the difference today was because we met at the beach - when the conversation stalled it was easy to just look out at the ocean.
3. I ended it before he did!

Baby steps? Maybe…so hard to tell given that I probably won't interact with him again for another few weeks. I'll follow up with a "nice to see you" text tonight. Can anyone see any other opportunities that I'm missing? The work stress seems to be a recurring issue for him at the moment but I can't think of a way to work with that without stepping over the DB line….or rather the Martian line. By that I mean I know I shouldn't offer unsolicited advice to a man...though I did have a great conversation with my IC the other day about how to better deal with things at my work ;-)