Okay whose ready to read a small novel...

I met this gentleman in April of 2006, he swept me off my feet! Wow was he incredible, he had a three year old son and was going through a very ugly divorce at the time! We started slow at first and of course progressively picked up speed, well I bought a house for us, we made more than enough money collectively and then with the economy sucking as much as it does, he lost his job in January, things went downhill very quickly. We started fighting all the time, then bills started coming up short and all he did was "look" for jobs all day... after about two months of that crap, I took action. I told him that I was renting out the house, my mother was kind enough to let me move in with her until I could get my feet back under me. He kept asking for me to give him more time, that he was looking, but the house we were living in was a fixer-upper and even though he was home all day he wasn't doing anything to the house either, who knows what he did all day! So we were going to try the not living together thing, go back to dating since I was not financially dependent on him, we could work on ourselves also! But that didn't work either, I finally got tenants moved into my fully remodeled house at the beginning of this month and it got so bad between us we quit talking entirely! Well recently we got back in touch, like Sunday! Now let me mention I had a rough time getting over him and I was on a pretty good road to singlehood and going out, meeting new people, potentially Mr. Right... blah blah blah. Got a second job to pay th ehouse off quicker so I can sell it, going back to school to become nurse, etc. So we started talking again and I met up with him last nigh, and he told me he has had a job for 4 months, making very good money and is even up for a promotion, he is a network engineer so it wasn't like he wasn't qualified. I asked to see the check stubs for proof, and he showed me all of them! He also told me that he FINALLY signed the divorce papers about two weeks ago, got her to agree on a child support amount and a set visitation schedule... hallelujah. He has asked to help me financially again also and would like to try again for us. So here is the problem... My family hates him for what he did, I could forgive him, but I had myself convinced he wasn' t the one and there was someone else out there for me! So now here we are, he is slowly showing me he could be that guy, but the other half of me is like "Wait, we were going to see what else was out there" So what do I do, I am completely torn, I know my family would eventually love him again, especially once they see all the changes he has made. And just for clarification, he says that although I was his main motivation to get his life back together, he also did it for his son, and because it was the right thing to do! So do I try again, or say no what's done is done, I do love him, he is awesome but we would have such a long tough road ahead of us and then if it doesn't work out again I would be crushed... so what do you all think?

Circumstances beyond our control do happen to people. So you have to look at it like he lost his job and was in a blah fog for awhile but he picked up the pieces and finally is on the right track. So you have to look at the pro's and con's like what else got on your nerves that you were not getting along? Was it him or the situation?
Don't look for the grass is always greener there might be somebody else out there or you could be looking forever.
Don't let how your family and friends feel about him influence you. All family and friends pick sides in an argument and couples still get back together no matter how bad it was.

Follow your heart not a bunch of what if's or what abouts.

Sometimes when people (guys especially) lose their jobs they get into this funk. I saw it happen with my dad, my ex and my boyfriend. They start feeling bad and slip into a depression.

Yeah your family is mad at him for the stress he put you through, but don't you think he was stressing too? I say give him another shot because at least he's trying and wants to make it work. Your family will see him come around.

Also don't jump right into anything right off the bat.
If you decide to give it another go start from scratch, start dating and do not hold any past against him and do not even bring up well you did this and that.
Start with a clean slate and treat it like you are dating someone you want to get to know.
Tell him right off you are not promising anything.

I think you should take this VERY SLOWLY, as a relationship that only works during the good times, is a big red flag to me.