Wondering if anybody can weigh in on trying to date again.

My wife and I split. She basically left me, I wanted to keep trying, she didn’t. I think deep down it really is what I needed but the thought of breaking up our small family just straight scared me. We have a two and a half yr old.

She was very interested in another guy(coworker) at the end of our relationship and they spoke a lot outside of work. I never had much of a thought of being in a relationship with another woman. I struggled mightily as our marriage fell apart but when she finally served me papers I felt a weight come off my shoulders. I was still in daily agony over the thought of not being with my son everyday but the relief from no longer giving two shizzes about her and possibly cheating or just giving some other guy twice as much attention was really quite amazing.

There is a gal who I find to be attractive but don’t know much about her other than she has a child of her own, seems to be career driven, active/fit, people have told me how nice of a person she is..etc. a ton of attributes I felt like once applied to my wife, that I found attractive.

I have no idea how to tell when is the right time to approach. I’m not even talking about just straight asking on a date right away but more so just try to connect in one way or another and maaaaybe a little down the road something comes of it or not.

I’m just struggling because I don’t want it to come off as “just got divorced, looking to rebound” potentially being a red flag for her and costing any future possibility. However I would love to let her know that I’d love to connect not even on a sexual romantic basis. I’d love to have just real world conversation about how she was in a very similar situation a couple years ago, I’m told. I would hate to drag her into anything obviously..

Info: -My marriage had been crumbling for quite a while and basically felt like my wife gave up 6 months ago.

-i imagine we have a few months until finalizing