Conversations of Dating

As I was checking headlines on Yahoo tonight, Jaelyn was looking over my shoulder.  She was looking at the topic links running down the left side of the website.  Her eyes stopped at a particular topic and she told me that I needed to click on that one.  That one just happened to be two hearts with the title “dating.”  Jaelyn asked me if I was ever going to date.  Caught a little bit off guard, it took me a moment to respond.  I answered, that I thought that I might, but wasn’t at the moment.  Jaelyn responded that two of her friends keep asking her when her mommy was going to start dating.  Curious, I asked her if she wanted me to date.  She shrugged her shoulders and answered that she didn’t know.  I asked her if she didn’t want me to date.  Again, she shrugged her shoulders and answered that she didn’t know.

I realized that this is probably a difficult question for her to answer as she doesn’t know what dating someone would look like for her and I.  It is rather interesting to me that this is a topic she has raised a few times since Scott’s death, with the first time being within month or two of Scott’s death.  I’m not sure if it is her craving and need for a “present” father or another of various other reasons.  When she raised this topic before, I explored her understanding of what my remarriage would mean to her.  At no time was Jaelyn resistant to the idea of me dating or remarrying.  This continues to surprise me as if I was in her shoes at her age, I’m not sure I would have wanted my mom to remarry and “replace” my daddy. 

If God would choose to bring someone special into my life in the future, I’m sure we will be re-visiting all of these conversations.  But I am grateful that this is topic that Jaelyn is not afraid to talk to me about.