For a long time after he died, I was just trying to get from one day to the next, trying to keep things together and be a rock for the kids.
Last year my friends began to gently suggest I should start dating again, which seemed like an unthinkable idea. It felt like such a betrayal to him. When we married, we were going to be together forever and he was my soul mate.
Over the last few months I’ve been thinking that maybe I should date. It’s not that I feel like I really want to – I just think it’s probably the healthy thing to do. I have felt lonely although it’s normally lonely for my husband. There’s a nice man in the office I work in who has made his feelings clear. We’re good friends and he’s attractive but I feel really guilty every time I think about it.
I also don’t know how my kids will take it. They’re 13 and 11, which still seems really young and I don’t know how to explain it to them without it looking like I’m betraying their dad. Also I don’t want to upset their lives by introducing them to different men because obviously not every relationship works out and I want their home to be stable.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Am I being selfish and should I wait until the kids are older?