The thought occasionally enters my mind now and then that maybe I should date. I’m lonely. I want someone to talk to. Someone to spend time with. Someone to care about and have care about me. But then, I wonder, am I just looking for Jeff? No one is EVER going to measure up to him. No one is ever going to have his sense of humor, his sexiness, his strength, his gentleness. I don’t want to replace him. I know that would never be even remotely possible. And I worry that anyone I find would be exposed as glaringly lacking compared to the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
But I’d love to have someone to hold my hand. Am I too damaged now? How do you date one person when you’re still in love with someone else? Would anyone even want to have anything to do with me when I would obviously leave them in a nanosecond if it were possible for my love to return to me? I don’t think I would want to be with someone under those circumstances.
I don’t think Jeff would want me to live in loneliness for the rest of my life. But what WOULD he want? What is best for the kids? Should I stay solely a mommy and a widow for the rest of my existence…or do I allow myself to feel the comfort of another person? Does this mean that I am less of a wife to Jeff? Does this mean that I am a bad person?
I stare at his picture and weep. I listen to his voice on his messages and attempt to cling to the moment he left it and feel that he would know what I should do. But, it’s messed. It’s wrong. It’s a strange and foreign concept. How do you ask your husband if you should date again?