<human>: I am a 36/M single dad rebuilding my life (spiritually, mentally, and physically) after my divorce last April 2012. I was 13 years with her total and 6.5 years of marriage with my ex. Little current drama with the ex. Potential drama 4is there with her but I generally avoid it as we only communicate about major issues through email and only see each other 15 minutes each week.

My daughter is 2 and a rock star. I have dedicated the time I have with her (50%) to be with her and concentrate on her.
I am, for the first time in a decade, financially and physically healthy. I love my career as an engineer and find it fulfilling. I am still working hard on my mental health and spiritual health. Both are probably in the best condition since my marriage imploded last Christmas. It was a relationship where I worked hard at work to get us out of debt while she found another guy at her police dispatch job. The end was both our faults and I have learned from and took responsibility for my faults in the relationship. It was one of my core goals this year to learn from it and improve myself for me and my daughter.

I've had interests here and there but after working things out with a counselor I have figured out the type of women I always got into relationships with who were counter-dependent. With this in mind I started to try to understand women I encountered first and tried not to judge them but accept them for who there were.  I also accepted that I could not accept anything more than being friends with most of them.

My dog's new vet is a 27/f, seems to have her life together, and simply glows when she talks about her vet knowledge. I met her 4 months ago through mutual friends but I was in no condition for anything. I saw her again as I fulfilled a promise to bring my dogs to her as their primary vet. A mutual friend told me she was single now and I have interest after I saw her today.

Is it too early to even ask the woman to dinner with no expectations? I'm nervous and haven't been in the dating arena in 13 years.

Advice? Trolls?

Give me the gist of the text in a nutshell
<bot>: Single Dad working hard to get it together (getting close)found a younger woman who sparked my interest. I am less than a year out of a divorce. Is it too early to ask her out for a simple dinner?