One of my sweetest friends met his next soulmate less than a year after his wife of 20 years passed away unexpectedly. The woman he met had been widowed a year earlier. They were married a two years later and still going strong after 15 years.
My old boss lost her husband and didn't date for five years. She never remarried but continues to date in her 60s.
And there's another fellow in town who was widowed probably ten years ago. He swears he's never going to remarry, but he has an interesting mission. He finds widows and invites them to coffee. No ulterior motive. He urges them to speak about their husbands. He asks about their favorite things and what they liked to do together.
He tells me that the women are so relieved to actually be able to talk about their lost loves because everyone seems to be so afraid to bring it up thinking they'll open old wounds. But he makes them, and they just go on and on, which I think is wonderful.
He says he gets to experience true love hearing them speak. But every once in a while he runs across something completely different. That woman finds out something about her deceased husband that was kept hidden. Maybe another woman, maybe another lifestyle.
I asked if he let them go on and on, too, and he said he does, but there are limits. Like when he sees them getting angrier and angrier just venting.
I think he studied to be a priest, and he probably would have made a good one knowing how compassionate he is.
Sorry, got sidetracked from the original question, but I don't think there's a set amount of time for anything.
Good luck!