Sorry I never did get around to changing my signature line. We reconciled. My kids are now 9 and 13. No girlfriend although I went out with girls who were friends. They were invaluable as to giving me the female perspective. My W's parents were D'd where her dad just left when she was 7 and never came home.
In terms of how long it took her to be friendly. it was a long process of her allowing herself to trust again. During that time I GAL and became a heck of a great dad. I also read and learned everything I could about M, relationships, As, human behavior, MLC and even how to read body language like the FBI does in order to read my W's moods since she wasn't the type to open up.
Like everyone else, I had people telling me to give it up, etc. But my gut told me to stick it out and that no matter all the spew she would say, she was saying it out of pain.
M-43 W-40 2D - 9 and 5
Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet a new life.