What's your goal here, Toots? To use the boat analogy, are you trying to throw a rope out to his lifeboat in case he wants to pick it up (not realising it's been there all along)? If so, I like the validation paragraph and think the re-phrased paragraph 2 is also good. I would probably leave it there though.
"I hope that we might still be able to..." Does that sound a little needy? Could you give a concrete idea about what a next little step would look like? Saving the marriage might seem like a big stretch for your confused H. In reality what Starsky says is true - dating is probably the first next step (or just re-connecting). I fully get that it is hard to go from real NC to dating (I have the same dilemma as you know) but somehow we have to try to edge things in that direction.
H 37 Me 36 Together 15 years Married 5 years No kids BD Apr 2014 H moved out 2 Jun 2014
