Thanks for all of your responses. I posted this because I was conflicted. On the one hand I really am not ready to be in a relationship right now. Also, it is a bit troubling to me because I still love and miss my ex girlfriend so very much. On the other hand I really do feel so much better when I am with, or talking to this friend. She is so incredibly upbeat and positive and has overcome so much adversity. It is definitely a very good influence on me.

Admittedly the other reason for my "confilct" is that I had dated this woman a while back, just before my second marriage. We had, and still have, incredible chemistry. I am trying so hard to keep this on a friendship level for a lot of reasons. First, I know its weird, especially given my past history, but I still feel connected to my exgirlfriend (if that makes any sense). Second, I know I am not ready for a relationship. I don't want to get caught up in another relationship and I certainly do not want to hurt anyone else.

Just not sure how to handle this. There is just so much electricity between us. And, I know that I shouldn't "go there", as I need to stop focusing so much on the physical. But to be totally honest I see nothing wrong we achieving a healthy balance between mental, emotional and physical needs. I think that part of my motivation for acting out physically was that I found myself in relationships that did not fulfill my physical needs. I always felt that I was the one that was "abnormal". This "friend" that I am seeing, that I used to date, was an exception. Our connection physically was unmatched and we did click emotionally as well. She just had a lot of stuff going on her life and had her own demons to face which I couldn't handle at the time.

At any rate I just know that I am playing with fire here to some extent. I just don't want to get burned and I don't want anyone else to either.