Great news on your dad! I'm happy for him and you.

What Sam says made sense in terms of social interactions. It's a boost to the PMA, feels good to interact, and at least shows that we aren't completely in stalemate waiting for the X. But this, for me as well, is a difficult tightrope to walk. My take home message is that whatever we do has to be for ourselves. So dating can't be only a way to get the X to wake up and take notice that we are capable of moving on. We have to be comfortable ourselves that we are ready to date. It sounds like at least you, Sam, and I aren't ready for dates yet. Perhaps part of my hangup is that despite what my X has told me in the past about dating (that it's good, I should be dating), I personally feel that the times I have show interest in other women have produced negative results.

Well, I'm rambling. But I hear you. It sounds as though you have you next few weeks mapped out, are happy with what you have going on in your life right now, and have a great outlook. That's really all that matters.

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Theodore Roosevelt