This is the first time I am starting a thread. I have not received my books yet, so I am not familiar with how things work.
I believe my wife and I are 'piecing'. She left November 24th, the Monday before Thanksgiving 2014. After about a week, she started to communicate via text. It took about a month before she would talk with me or see me. We have had many challenges over the last year, and had started seeing a marriage counselor/therapist. We thought we were doing better and quit going. Then, we had a horrific weekend and, after a terrible fight, she left. Within a week, she moved out.
We both started seeing our therapist individually. We made great progress every time we spoke on the phone. We determined that divorce is not on the table - that we are separated, but still married, and no dating anyone else. That would be a deal breaker. Our first meeting was for coffee, and we stayed for 3 hours. It was the most difficult Thanksgiving and Christmas I have ever had.
Before the end of the year, we started dating, I guess you'd call it. Things were very fragile. I just wanted to get out and have a little fun in a neutral setting. I always seemed to say or expect the wrong thing(s) at first, but it got better. We went out to parties and events every weekend and had a good time together.
My wife finally decided she was ready for a joint marriage therapy session. By then, we had discussed many issues, resolved some things and made good progress. We decided it was better to focus on how to improve our communication and problem solving skills, and not keep making the same mistakes as before. We were actually t
