[KirkCamp]

Hi, I have been divorced for three years myself in a situation where my ex wife was the one who initiated it and was trying to break the land speed record for getting divorced the quickest - painful but I gave a lot in the relationship so I didn't fight it and have moved on. I have been fortunate enough to meet someone recently who is going through a thorny divorce where she was seperated for a few years already and decided to file for a divorce when she found out positively about his adultery. For the most part, she's moved on but now he is being difficult towards the end to her (he is out of country and has been for a few years) which obviously is affecting her in a bad way.

I have kind of figured out how to approach things and that being a friend is first and foremost what she needs right now, which I let her know in an e-mail recently as well. Since I have not been the best at the beginning dating thing anyway (heart on my sleeve and not sure when to say things), I was wondering if anyone could point me towards some advice on dating a seperated woman or even something where a man can understand a little more about someone going into hibernation mode, popping up "no strings attached and no expectations" out of the blue and things like that. I've searched on the Internet but can't find a lot that has helped. We've just started getting to know one another, I have some idea on how I feel and some idea on how to approach things but being told to "relax" and "take it slow" are foreign ideas where I need to learn the language a little better - I try but it's taking me a while to get there without Cliff Notes Plus, it's different in that I was the one who was left in a completely different kind of divorce and am not sure what to do in this situation.

Her actions say things are great, the words I think will take a while which is o.k. I care about her a lot, just don't want to do anything too stupid and am perfectly fine with being a friend until she is fully ready to date and being here if she needs me to be (I should point out, she has dated for almost a year before we hd met but I'm getting the feeling I've had the most potential). She's been on vacation for a few weeks so I took a crash course in patience and am running out of distractions here. Any help would be appreciated.