I'd see him.

I'd rather potentially regret having been brave and seeing him (regardless of motivation), than regret not having done so.

I'd try to keep my expectations of the visit low.

I've read all your question and then the dialogue with Russ.
My advice to you is to back up, chill out and not push the issue with her. If you do, in light of what you have described, you will be given the "thanks but no thanks" talk.

Give her some space. It is very off-putting to be pressed by some guy. Everything she has been communicating to you recently is for you to just give it a rest for now.

You can send her a text about Thursday, along the lines of "just checking in re Thursday, what would suit you ...? but no more.

As Russ says, if it going to work then it will work, but given her background as described by you, and what has occurred so far, she wants to go slow and build a friendship/trust in you. This takes time, she is being careful of herself and her kid, and you need to get your head around the fact that she will probably keep you at arms length for a while. Like I said, push the issue now, and you will push her away.

Awesome shoes.

I can relate to a mispronounced name, but only in respect to my surname, which is tricky because it is pronounced nothing like how it is spelled.
I have found a simple way of explaining how to pronounce it. When I first meet someone who is going to be more than a passing acqaintance, I tell them how to pronounce it, if they are going to be using it.
Clearly my situation is different than yours, because most people will not be using my surname when speaking to or about me.
If they don't get it, I have learned to let it go, unless they are clearly trying but just confused. In that case I will try one more correction/tutorial, but after that I treat it as just one of those things...

Well, the bit we eat is the bulb, so i'd say yes, vegetable, not fruit. What else were you thinking it would it be?

You can work on Word documents in Pages on the iPad. It is a bit cumbersome, and it does not handle large documents very well (slllllloooooowww), but it can be done.

Marty, I just bought "Cities of the Classical World" by Colin McEvedy, which so far seems to fit the notions your f-in-l is looking for.

I must spend too much time on q'land, because after my first thought when I picked it up in the shop (I like this, I think I'll buy it) was "there was a question about books like this..."

I'm pretty sure that if you wrote a piece about how it is symbolic of something or other and encapsulating your memories of it you could sell it on etsy for at least $250!

(Written by an adherent of regretsy...)

I can't come up with anything actually helpful, tho', sorry.

First, stop criticizing yourself for how you feel!
I can relate to what you have described. I've worked with at least one person like that. I did find that once we were settled in in workplace, where it was just the two of us, she settled down and stopped acting as if she had to make a big splash all the time, which let me get to know the real person. My pet theory was that she was overcompensating for something with her public persona.

Anyhoo, practice focusing on her positive qualities, don't get into a negative cycle of thought. Try relating to her on a one to one basis to see if you can get along with her, rather than her behavior. Also, watch and learn from what she does that has a postive impact, and figure out if what she gets from it is a real rapport, or just surface level. I find that this sort of analysis can sometimes help me get past my negative reactions.

Is her taking your role over something imposed by management or because she will push you out? If it is management, guard against blaming her. If it is the second, use your words and be tactfully assertive to not get bulled out of the way.

I hope this does not sound sanctimonious. It can be really hard to deal with this sort of thing, I know.

My beloved best friend and I have grown apart over the last few years, due to distance and changing circumstances. When we are apart I find feelings of guilt, of having been abandoned and sadness colour my memory of her, but when we are together these can drop away and I just enjoy her company. Working on that.

Some people, like the guy you describe, are better appreciated from a distance. Is just how it is!

No, you are not a lone weirdo. There are now two of us!