Hi,
Hope it is okay to ask this here, as I am not a parent myself.
Long story short, there is a lady I work with who is a single mum. We work on different teams and don't know each other that well, but she has always struck me as kind hearted, decent, hard working, and I think she is very pretty. She's very quiet and a little on the reserved / shy side. I've asked her out several times over a period of 5 years, but every time she says she "isn't ready" and "parenting is so hard".
I'm not for one minute doubting this. Although I don't have children myself, I have 4 nephews and a niece and a lot of my friends have children. Even with 2 parents in the house it is a struggle, so I can't begin to imagine how overwhelming it must be for her coping on her own. My question really is to any single parents out there - did you ever feel like this, and how and when did things get to a point where you began to think you were ready to date again? Her child is a teenager now and I know they can be a bit of a nightmare!
Part of me (and I know it's my own insecurities - we all have them) thinks, if she really liked me she'd make time and maybe it's a convenient way of telling me she's just not interested without hurting my feelings. But when we bump into each other she is always happy to stop and chat and seems pleased to see me. I guess I'm just trying to get it straight in my head if I should give up on the idea of us dating in the future when she is ready. If I'm wasting my time. I have dated other women during this period, but nothing's become serious and I keep finding myself thinking about this lady again. She's got something about her I really like, and I honestly wouldn't mind waiting if I thought it was just a timing thing. Good things come to those who wait and all that.
Hope that makes sense and doesn't sound too needy!