I agree with you, the fairy tale family is definitely a sticking point and our undoing when we are trying to move along. Look at it this way...you now have nothing to lose. You can choose for yourself how you want to live and what kind of interaction, if any, you want to have with your ex. Obviously in that case you'll be limited by how much he sees you.
I'd suggest cultivating the interactions that you do have. Be friendly, happy, perhaps a little mysterious (don't overdo that, but you don't have to tell him everything) and have the convo you would have with a friend. Try to get comfortable, if possible, with the thought that it is probably over, but you are open to the possibility of a renewed R with him. But the ball is entirely in his court and you need to be patient while you are getting a life of your own and being complete without him. He'll work through his issues and perhaps if you've been there in at least a friendly capacity you'll at least be seen as a possible R for him.
That being said, I feel like a hypocrite because I don't have patience.
I agree completely about your assessment of the internet. But it's like a gun, it doesn't kill people, the gun holder kills people. The internet doesn't make these people go into a fantasy world...they are already succeptible to it and make the choice.
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
