What do I make of this???

[Just_Me]

So, told her have a good night and she said you too. Hey may never work out; but I guess psoitive progress is better than none!!!

Tman, I think you probably won't like my take on this, but I'm just going to tell you my personal experience first as a lead in to my advice.

When I was first separated and even through the divorce and after we hung out together quite a bit, doing things like you described. We'd have a good time together. There early on was even quite a bit of hugging and she even listened to talk about us. But mostly it was episodes like you described, going out as a "family" and seeming to have a good time. In retrospect I feel like it was simply a crutch for her, nothing more. It was a chance for her to go out, have a good time, and maybe assuage guilt some. That stuff went on for months. It's only over the last 2-3 months that we've stopped doing those things and largely because she started saying no and I stopped asking. And over the last couple months she's gotten more satisfied with being apart...actually quite pleased that I'm out of the picture.

So my take, from a biased standpoint, is that despite the interactions you have had, that it does not necessarily indicate progress. Learning from my mistakes I think what would have been most beneficial is to first and foremost avoid moving too fast. Keep your space, don't have any R talks, don't try anything more, and don't invite very often. Space out the interactions and when you do have them make them as friendly and low pressure as possible. The other thing is that you are very focused on her. I think you do need to continue with GAL activities that don't include her. Do more of the fun activities with just the kids.

The concert is tricky. It's a real date. It isn't the safe family outing. My suggestion is to tell her that you scored two tickets, ask if she wants to go, and be prepared to ask someone else in her stead should she refuse. Make sure you are prepared for "NO" and take it as well as you can. I've been where you are TMAN and I pushed too hard.

The reason that I quoted the above is because I'm not sure it was a good thing for me that there was "positive progress". It dragged things out, but led to the same end only with me having more opportunity to get hurt. Take this very very slow and take the majority of your time doing things for yourself. I just don't want you to find that you were a stopgap until a better opportunity came along. It's a juggling act.