Expiration Date

I'll just put this out there and see if anyone still visits....

So how long after divorce should one wait until they start dating again? Is it a matter of an Emily Post etiquette algorithm like "Two Waiting Months to Each Year Married"? I would then beg to argue that only 'happy years' should be considered in this marriage equation, as the unhappy ones were their own kind of purgatory that has already been suffered through.

THEN, when would this 'waiting period' begin? Once both parties had decided that the marriage was over? When the households split? When the judge signed off on the official notice at the courthouse?

All that is fine and good, but what if you didn't think that you'd ever feel like dating EVER again? What if this 'non-dating' period took YEARS and by the time you finally decided that you'd like to give it a try the only eligible bachelors around were Myron and Ralph on the third floor of the retirement community. --Neither one having their own teeth, knees, or colons anymore?

Is it worth it to go out with someone even if you don't really feel like it? Let's be honest here, wasn't that the last few years of my marriage?

I guess I'm just afraid that I'm going to wake up one day and realize that I've passed my expiration date. I don't want to be one of those sad cans of organic soup that sit -unwanted- on the closeout rack at Meijer waiting for someone, anyone to take them home.