Nope. The first relationship after break up is the rebound one - the one that almost never works out, as long as it happens within a year of the break up. The guy - (or gal) - has to get back into the dating zone and tends to go for Ms. Right There, not Ms. Right. Sort of a practice run.
Not going to say that rebound relationships never work, as that would be silly. People are pretty complex. The big problem with them is the mountain of emotional baggage the one on the rebound brings to the relationship, which the other is not prepared to handle, not being a sherpa or a hotel porter.
The new relationship, 2 and a half years and counting, sounds pretty solid. Yeah, there will still be some baggage, as 17 years is a long time to be with someone, and is long enough to develop habits which have to change when you get with a new person, with all the irritation and worry that entails. It is do-able. Lots of folk manage, why should he be any different?
Wow, "rebounding" sounds so complex. ; ) If a guy tells you he knows he is rebounding will he also tell you when he's not anymore?
No, he usually just stops being an obnoxious, argumentative jerk.
Figure 6 months minimum, up to 2 years, depending on how long and intense his relationship was.
Like I say - rebounds CAN work - they just need a load more patience and tolerance in the main.
Rebounds can work sometimes it all depends on the how, who, what and whys of the break up first. Then after that it depends on the amount of time the new person is in the others face and pushing relationship with them ect ect
See when I got dumped about a year ago (in april) the guy did it out of nowhere and after not talking to me for 4 days at all. He said it was the trust issue, as in he expected after 10 months I shouldn't have any less trust than life and death type of trust in him or the fact that I didn't trust him with other gals after hearing days on end how many other women he wanted to do and other stuff that you just shouldn't be talking about while dating someone. Not to mention there'd been a 7 year gap from when we had last seen and known eachother so we had to also get to know eachother a bit again too. Then after the break up he told me everything was fine other than the trust issue but I'm welcome to go back to him anytime... :/ um yeah no thanks not worth the agony and other BS I had felt, not to mention he'd had 5 chicks within 2 months of dumping me XD
So when I got dumped I called my current BF who was just a friend at that point and he came over and got me coffee and took me to a park til he had to go get his kids from daycare that day. He pretty much said I needed to be out of the house a bit since my ex didn't even have guts to call but rather txted the break up to me (what a loser no?) while I was at home.
Well time goes by with my current guy calling once a day and coming to hang out once a week, this goes on for a few months. He gave me space by sticking to his rule of only coming to see me once a week and his daily calls were to let me vent and talk and just make sure I was doing ok. He did things that way so I could get over the hurt of being dumped and get myself back to a place where I was happy with me, and when that happened he let me know he wanted to date me, had since the first time we met but didn't want to be overly pushy about it, plus both of us had GF/BF at various times of our friendship and such and neither wanted (or want) to be cheaters so yeah.
But now we're nearing a year together (in a few months) and it's still been great :) I truly love him and he says I have nothing to worry about in terms of me messing things up with him and we both are building trust with and in eachother, I'm pretty sure no matter what this is the best relationship I've had in my life, one I will never trade for anything!
He gave you time to decompress. To get most of the rebound out of your system first. Sounds like a solid dude.